


Moonsong

by Seliphra



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: All mer are the same, EVERYONE IS A MERMAID, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, M/M, Mermaid Hunk, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Other, She's going to be mostly Katie too, Slow Burn, Soulmates, all of 'em - Freeform, broganes, everyone is happy, i guess, mermaid allura, mermaid keith, mermaid lance, mermaid shiro, she/her pronouns for pidge, single sex species, sort of, they have like 50 pronoun sets though so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-18 08:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9377570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seliphra/pseuds/Seliphra
Summary: Every merfolk is born with a song in their soul. One half of a duet, that will only be completed when they find their mate, singing with them on the full moon. Except the Deep Dwellers, who live within the abyss of the ocean, where no one can see them. They are said to be soulless. Lance is sure they're a myth... until he actually meets one, that is.





	1. The Abyss

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so for some reason I thought 3 WIP's on the go sounded like a great idea. I finished this a while ago and didn't publish it, and after editing it so it didn't read like I wrote it at 3 am (which I did) I decided maybe I should publish it. I guess. So anyways, everyone is a merfolk.

_Never go to the drop off. There are dangerous things down there, in the deep. Things that live in the world where no light touches. Even the Deep Dwellers are not like us. They are more dangerous, they would kill you as soon as anything else that lives where the sun does not touch. For the Deep Dwellers do not follow our ways, and they have no song in their souls. They do not feel the pull of the Moon or the call to sing beneath it. They do not love. They are monsters who took our form, to trick us. Stay away from the deep, or one may come for you too._

These words were something every merfolk in Lance's village grew up on. The deep, yawning abyss that opened along the sea floor, about six leagues from their city's border was a place absolutely forbidden to journey to for all young merfolk. In it, there were no doubt strange, and horrifying fish, but the most terrible of all were the Deep Dwellers. Deep Dwellers, Lance was told, looked more or less identical to the merfolk in many regards. This was a place only the patrols went, and the abyss was forbidden... and this was something Lance was reminded of every twelve seconds right now.

“Lance, really, we shouldn't be here... what if something comes _out_ of it?” Hunk whined as he followed behind Lance. The sun still reached where the ocean floor was here, glinting off of Hunks brilliantly golden scales on occasion, when the light hit one right. Lance had always been secretly jealous of his best friends brilliant gold and burnished bronzes, his own aquamarine blue and silver scales comparatively boring.

“Hunk. What would come _out_ of the abyss while the sun is up? Everyone says stuff only come up at night... and even then, only like... a few things. Squids usually. Maybe shrimp. They aren't _that_ scary! It's not even dangerous to swim over it! The patrols do it all the time!” Lance rambled his assurances a bit, mostly because he was actually terribly nervous about what he planned to do. Lance moved languidly through the water, despite his fluttering heart, his long fin swaying left to right in a fluid motion, his dorsal fins flatter against his back. The dorsal fins that ridged their spine part way down their backs helped with stability in rougher sea's, but they also caused drag, and right now Lance wanted his agility and speed. Just in case he was totally off base about the 'nothing comes up during the day'. As such, he had collapsed the fin that ran from between his shoulder blades to his mid back,

“Lance, come on! What if something just... pops up! And like... bam! It just eats you! Just like... swallows you whole! Or... or one of... _them_ comes out?” Hunk's voice quieted as he spoke of the Deep Dwellers. Beings who looked like merfolk, such as Hunk and Lance, but not at all like them -so the tales said. Lance new the stories as well as any other merfolk did, the tales of the Deep Dwellers were told to every mer child as they grew up, and at every crystal festival to remind them all of what the deep abyss did to ones soul.

“Come on, you don't actually think Deep Dwellers are _real_ Hunk? They're made up! So babies don't swim out here and sink down and get crushed by the pressure!” Lance insisted. He had stopped believing Deep Dwellers were real a few years back, but then now... maybe he was less sure. There was no way they were true though... bio-luminescent merfolk, who could survive the enormous water pressure from birth, see in the dark, and remained silent for most of their lives, instead of singing with every full moon... no. There was no way those existed. They were said to be soulless and without a song, without a second half. Something so tragic simply couldn't be! There were those who were born as complete souls, certainly, like his cousin Arin, but that was different. She still had a song after all!

“I mean... just because no one has ever _seen_ one, doesn't mean they aren't _real_...” Hunk whined as the ledge came into view. The chasm was enormous, larger than he'd thought and even with Lance's unusually sharp eyes, he could not see the other side of the ledge. Maybe it went on for more leagues than he could swim? The thought gave Lance a rush of both excitement and heart-wrenching terror. Hunk gave a series of nervous clicks in the back of his throat as they came to a stop at the edge, though Hunk stayed a little further back than Lance did. Lance peered over the edge, ignoring another whine of concern from Hunk and looked down.

“It... doesn't look _that_ deep...” He reasoned, becoming a bit braver now that he saw it. Sure, he couldn't actually see the bottom, or the other side of the ridge, but Lance was very certain that the bottom of it _existed_ down there somewhere too. Maybe just below where he could see? The fault in the seafloor went on for many leagues in both directions, further than Lance could see, and straight down into absolute black. Lance didn't think it looked all that dark from up here either, now that he saw it. Surely the stories were exaggerating?

“Yes it does Lance! It looks really, _really_ deep, okay? Like... deadly deep. It looks like it could hide a leviathan... or maybe a really huge Deep Dweller, we don't know how big _they_ are you know!” Hunk shivered as he inched closer, peeking over with Lance. Hunk's fin coiled up behind him in a tight, frightened spiral, the caudal fin flaring slightly, a shimmery fan of translucent gold that seemed to sprawl out behind him.

“Hunk! They don't exist okay? Come on, I'll prove it to you!” Lance said, sounding much braver than he felt as he launched himself quickly over the abyss, looking down. When nothing immediately emerged to swallow him whole, he felt less terror, and was able to cross his arms across his chest and grin at Hunk in his most I-told-you-so possible way.

“See? Nothing is eating me, I'm totally, one-hundred and ten percent fine~” Lance taunted.

“Yeah. Well. I don't trust it. You should come back now, okay? Before anything... Lance? Lance! Lance don't swim _down_ there!” Hunk cried out, his fingers whitening as he gripped at the ledge of rock and stared at his friend who twirled gracefully downwards now. It was partly to torture his best friend, but he was genuinely curious too.

“See Hunk~? I'm swimming dooown! And nothing is eating me-AAHHH!!” Lance shot back up like a torpedo and over the edge as he screamed, hugging Hunk tightly in sudden fear. Hunk shrieked too, falling back and scrambling, his tail fin twisting desperately as he tried to sort out how to swim with Lance clinging so tightly to him before he calmed down enough to realize that nothing was actually there at all.

“Lance! That wasn't funny! I thought something was trying to eat you!” Hunk scolded -a bit louder than he should in the open ocean like that- but Lance let him, managing to grin impishly at his best friend.

“Yeah right, it was totally hilarious!” Lance snickered. And totally intentional and not at all caused by an air bubble brushing his caudal fin and making him think he was being eaten by something terrifying like a cannibalistic Deep Dweller. It was less embarrassing to be lectured than for Hunk to catch on that most of Lance's bluster and bravado was a load of shark shit. It was less embarrassing too for Lance to pretend that he had done that on purpose.

“Lance we should go back, come on... if anyone finds us out here, we're gonna be in _so_ much trouble!” Hunk insisted now, looking back towards where they knew the city was. Some of the crystals were bright enough that they could be seen, but most of the stuff on the edge of the city wasn't big either. Not like the palace and it's sprawling coral gardens, or the houses of the thousands in the pod that lived there... the edge near the abyss held the quarries, where they could find better stones for knives and jewellery, and it was more or less uninhabited. It was generally empty at night, though the few brave souls who lived there often reported seeing bio-luminescent lights from the direction of the abyss. Probably just squid.

“How far do you bet I can go~?” Lance asked now as he moved slowly back to the edge of the cliff now, grinning as he peeked over the edge again to look back down into it. He'd be able to see for a little way down still... maybe he could see in the dark like the Deep Dwellers were supposed to be able to? Merfolk did have excellent night vision, but they needed a little light to go by, and even then, at night echolocation was more commonly used. Lance was positive it wasn't nearly as dark as he'd been told down there though. It looked _dark_ sure, but not _pitch black_ to him.

“If I say you can touch the bottom will you come back to the city with me?” Hunk pleaded, his tone showing he was genuinely afraid and concerned.

“Nope...” Lance said, moving more slowly out and drifting downwards. He really was curious. Was the pressure as bad as they said? He didn't feel any different as he let himself sink slowly towards the line between the dysphotic and aphotic zones.

“Lance! Please! Come on man! If you die, I'm not coming after you! Lance? Lance! I'm... I'm going back!” Hunk threatened, but Lance ignored him, drawing closer to it. It was more gradual than he noticed, thanks in part to his superb night vision. When he noticed he was struggling to breathe more though, his gills working harder to get enough oxygen, that was when he realized he couldn't really see anything. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, hoping he had levelled off. Ahh... he felt a little bit strange, like he was sinking still, but he was pretty sure he wasn't. He sent out a few clicks and heard the wall of the chasm to his left, and small things... oh!   
  
“Pretty...” He murmured as he saw lights blinking in the darkness, further down. It didn't hurt at this depth, but it was definitely something he wasn't used to. He fired off more clicks, to hear what was nearby. Fish maybe? And some things were hard to spot, but then something much larger moved beside him. Lance swallowed, his eyes latching on to the row of soft red light that dotted a tail fin as long as his, and eyes that glowed violet. He darted away in fear at that, though he couldn't see and his head hit something... hard. A hand grabbed his wrist and Lance gave a shrill shriek of fear, hoping to stun it with sound, but it seemed to have no effect.

Whatever it was had red lights, small as pinpricks on it's arms and chest and back, along it's whole fin. and it pulled him upwards, now, towards the light. Lance was apparently much deeper in the abyss than he thought, realizing as he moved with this thing that he was actually quite dizzy, and foggy-brained. He didn't know if it was the pressure or not enough oxygen in the water down there, but it was a relief as they moved up and into the light. As the light improved, Lance was able to see what had him in it's grip was just like him too.

This guy was much paler than Lance was used to seeing a merfolk be, Katie being the only exception. He had no sun-browned skin like Lance and Hunk had, and his scales were black, with pricks of red, though when they reached where the sun hit, Lance could see notes of red all through the dark scales of this guys back, and fins. The dorsals, pelvic, and caudal fins were all smaller, sleeker, and with delicate hints of red in them too. His fingers were different though. Lance had sharp little claws, like all merfolk, but this guy had claws that were much longer, and he looked angrier.  
  
“Sun Dwellers should stay in the sun,” His voice was quiet when they reached an area that Lance could see clearly in again, but held an unmistakable note of agitation to it. Whoa... this guy was so pretty! What was that about Sun Dwellers? And why did he have three rows of teeth like sharks did? The stranger was looking at his head now, frowning and sniffing at it lightly to check for blood.

“What? Sun... what?” Lance mumbled as he looked at the stranger. He was still a bit dizzy, and the ache from where he had hit his head was a touch distracting too, and perhaps led to what he said next sounding okay in his head. “Uh... I'm Lance... and you're gorgeous...” He grinned. Maybe he really did hit his head too hard?

“Keith. Not gorgeous.” The voice was soft, almost a whisper to Lance's ears as the stranger -apparently named Keith- continued to inspect his head wound. “No blood. Sun Dwellers should not go down... Sun Dwellers like you might explode...” He whispered again. Keith seemed agitated, or maybe angry, Lance couldn't tell.

“Sun Dweller? Hey wait!” Lance tried to follow as Keith began to sink back into the abyss of the midnight zone. Keith paused and looked up at him before baring his teeth at Lance and scowling. Lance started a little at the sight. Merfolk should only have one row of teeth, not three. Three seemed excessive to Lance, but everything about this Keith was strange. Off putting, yet intriguing.  
  
“Sun Dweller Lance is _too loud_. Everything will hear him and come get him! Sun Dweller Lance will get himself eaten!” Keith warned, before diving down again, more quickly than he had before. Keith had vanished from view before Lance fully realized what Keith was. Lance had just seen a Deep Dweller... and it definitely hadn't eaten him. Lance really wanted to see a specific Deep Dweller again too.

 


	2. Grounded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds his way out of the abyss only to be attacked by his siblings and get grounded. His friends give him an idea though on how to see Keith again, whom he can't stop thinking about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, this story got so much attention after just one chapter that I nearly cried, and I really hope I can live up to your expectations! This chapter is a little short, but the next one will be longer!

By the time Lance made it back up to the ocean floor the dizziness had faded and he could think clearly again. Hunk was gone, probably hurrying off to tattle on him out of fear that Lance was going to die. Lance was sure he would have been fine of course, but now he couldn't get his mind off of what had just happened. A _Deep Dweller_! A real live _Deep Dweller_ had actually touched him! Talked to him! Lance could hardly believe they were even real! It made him giddy with excitement and Lance grinned as he stared back down at the abyss. Maybe if he went back down then Keith would drag him back up again? Oh but what if... what if he didn't? 

Lance's ears twitched suddenly at the sound of a long-range trill and he groaned and sank against the sand in annoyance. Of  _course_ Hunk would go to Lance's  _sisters._ Both his older sisters were in the city guard, both authorized to be out here, and he could hear them calling for him now. There was a note of panic in their calls so he sent back a long, sing-song call in response, though for mid-range. Their call would have been heard for over a hundred leagues unless there was something noisier nearby or a storm churning the water all wrong. The next two trills he got were ones of anger and he winced lightly, though they soon came in to view. 

Alaina, the eldest of his siblings was faster, her brilliant purples and blues making her a little harder to see from this distance. Lance got up out of the sand, spinning around and swimming slowly -very slowly- towards them now. Rhea was right behind Alaina, pink and blue and furious looking. Maybe he was safer in the abyss? He cringed and tried to evade them, but both his sisters were much larger than he was, and far stronger.

“You get _back_ here you little turtle turd!” Rhea snapped as Lance twirled out of her reach by millimetres and shot back towards the city. 

“Uhh! No thank you! I think I'm late for something!” Lance said, though the two were working as a team. It may be difficult to evade them, and he knew eventually he had to face his mother over this now anyways. Stupid Hunk.

“You are in _so_ much trouble Lance! You know you're not supposed to come to the drop off! Hunk was in tears when he came to us, telling us that you were out here! What if something ate you down there?!” Alaina scolded as she darted around to try and head him off.   
  
“Oof!” Lance ran smack into his brother. “T-Taren! Hi! What are you doing out-out here? In the open ocean?” Lance asked as his sisters cut off his escape, his brother holding on to his arm. 

“Helping Rhea and Alaina. I figured that with you being a slippery little eel, they could use my help,” He said with a pleasant smile. Lance scowled. His brother was bigger than he was too, and it annoyed Lance greatly that he was the smallest and youngest of the four of them. Lance squawked loudly when Rhea grabbed the edge of his ear, hard.

“You, little brother, are coming with us! What in the name of the Moon Goddess made you think that it was a good idea to come out here?! And Hunk tells us you swam down towards it?!” Rhea lectured, giving his ear a bit of a squeeze.

“Ow, ow, ow! I'm fine though, see? Fine! Nothing wrong! Let goooo!” He whined, his tail fin twisting as he tried and failed to escape her grasp.   
  
“That's enough Rhea, mother will see to it that he's punished for this. Even if you are the baby, even you can't do something like this without _some_ form of consequence,” Alaina said, her voice soft as she eyed the drop off. Lance got the sense that it made them nervous to be out here so close to it without a full squad to fight anything that came out. Lance wasn't scared at all though. Sure, he'd just learned the apparently deadly Deep Dwellers were completely, totally real, but Keith hadn't seemed interested in hurting him or eating him. If anything it seemed to Lance like Keith was concerned about Lance being killed in the deep too. 

“Nothing big ever comes out of there anyways,” Lance muttered as he was dragged back into the city by all three of his siblings.

“That isn't true, giant squid come up now and again, and they really _are_ dangerous Lance. Mer have been killed by them before, just five summers ago six guards were killed when one tried to attack the city! Remember?” Rhea looked ready to swat him as if he were a calf, but a look from Alaina stopped her. 

“Yeah... I remember,” Lance groaned, his tone sullen now. How could he forget? Rhea was still in training, but Alaina was a full guard by then and he remembered their mother praying to the Goddess's to keep her safe from harm. When they did reach the city limits again, Lance saw Hunk and shot a scowl at him before sticking his tongue out. Hunk just looked happy to see him, even if Lance _was_ in more trouble than he'd ever been. 

 

* * *

 

 

“So uhhh, hey Lance,” Hunk said as he twirled over Lance, ending with his belly skyward as he peered at Lance who stubbornly focused on the coral in front of him.

“I'm not talking to you, _traitor_ ,” Lance huffed his reminder to his best friend. He was still angry, and _totally_ grounded for the next three full moons. And it was all Hunk's fault! How was Lance supposed to go and see if Keith was still there if he was stuck here? And Lance very much wanted to go see Keith again. 

“I know! That's why Katie, and Allura are here too!” Hunk said, his voice happier than Lance wanted to hear.

“Sup Lance? Hear you got grounded again~” Katie's tone was teasing, and annoying, but it was hard to ignore someone who was practically family. Especially when she wiggled in and set her bony little elbows on Lance's shoulders.

“Yup. And it's all _Hunk's_ fault, so now I'm not talking to him,” Lance said simply, trying to ignore Hunk completely. This was hard to do with Hunk floating above him and Katie. 

“Well that's a bit unfair, don't you think? Hunk was only worried that you'd be hurt. Anyone else would have done the same,” Allura said, moving around in front of the trio. Lance huffed, eyeing Allura in mild frustration.

“Then-then you're all traitors too!” Lance insisted. He was going to be stubborn about this, and petty probably. Lance couldn't really help it though, no one got it. He was boring to look at and his song was all soft and strange, with clicks he couldn't even hear. Allura had a weird song too, but at least her pinks and purple splotches on silver scales with gold smatterings were stunningly beautiful compared to Lance's boring aquamarine blues. No one would care if he got eaten by squids or enchanted by Deep Dwellers. 

“Lance, come on. You know you shouldn't have been out there... let alone swimming _down_ into the abyss, you know we can't survive it. Not enough oxygen, no light, too much pressure... and things we can't see that will eat us! Like giant squids!” Pidge said. She reached both arms out to the sides when she mentioned squids, attempting to gesture how monstrously enormous they were, but her arms were short and she was no longer supporting herself on Lance's shoulders and slid sideways off his back. 

“Yeah or-or Deep Dwellers!” Hunk added, looking sheepish again. Lance smirked a little bit at that, oh, if only Hunk knew what Lance had seen! Pidge rolled her eyes though, while Allura nodded in agreement with Hunk.

“Deep Dwellers aren't real, Hunk. They're a fairy tale, told to keep calf's away from the drop off, since they can't always control their sink and float, and are curious enough to try and explore something like that. Y'know, the thing we're _supposed_ to grow out of?” Pidge looked pointedly at Lance with the last one there and he grinned sheepishly in response. 

“I don't know... my father swore up and down he that he saw one, and he believed them to be a myth too once,” Allura said, looking quite serious, and a little nervous.

“He was trying to scare you Allura, he wasn't serious, he just didn't want you in the guard,” Katie shook her head as she settled on her back against a cropping of coral that decorated Lance's room, curling on herself as she did so her caudal fin fanned near her face.

“Guys, there's no point arguing okay? I can't exactly go back anyways now. Not that I would!” He added the last part with a defensive tone as Allura and Hunk shot concerned looks at him.

“Well I mean, you can sneak out. Not to the drop off, but you could sneak out with _us._ ” Katie grinned as she watched Hunk and Allura's reactions. Hunk looked like Katie had said something so genius he couldn't believe it. Allura gave the most disapproving scowl Lance had ever seen.

“Or we could _ask_ Lance's mother politely to release him into our custody for a few hours,” Allura said with a frown. Lance's mother wasn't entirely without a heart after all, they did just worry about him. And most likely they would let Lance out as long as his three friends happened to be with him.

“Yeah, let's do that. I'm _so bored_ you all have _no_ idea. Let's go now! Let's ask her now!” Lance would not sneak away from his friends. But he was definitely sneaking out tonight and going back to the drop off. Even if he didn't see Keith again, he'd hopefully see something cool. Sure, his eyes hadn't worked in the total blackness of the abyss, but the moonlight and the huge Balmera crystals that decorated the city cast enough of a glow through the water that he should be able to avoid any predators. His friends wouldn't approve, no, but Lance believed no one thought he was stupid enough to go to the abyss at night. Everyone had badly underestimated Lance's sheer stupidity. Including Lance himself.

 


	3. A Midnight Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance just can't get Keith out of his head, and sneaks off in the dead of night to try and find him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long, I've been busy and had a couple of other priorities to write as well (mostly because I was paid, paid work takes priority!) 
> 
> Anyways, here is the much awaited chapter 3!!

Lance was never good at being patient. In fact, Lance was so bad at being patient that he was almost famous for it in the pod. Today though he was careful. He waited until nightfall before he made his move, telling his mother he was going to sleep, waiting until they had checked on him at least once, and then he grabbed a small Balmera crystal and squeezed through the back opening in his nook.

Lance was careful not to be seen as he made his way to the outskirts of the city, hiding behind large crystals when he saw patrols. He kept his movements small too, trying to feel like a fish in the water and avoid suspicion from the guards and patrols when they felt him in the water. Lance was good at that, sneaking around like this.

The closer Lance got to the abyss though, the darker the water became, and though his eyes were good in the dark, it was still difficult for him to see without using his echolocation. The light from the small Balmeran crystal he held helped a little bit, illuminating the sea floor until it broke away and Lance settled near the edge, stilling and being as quiet as he could. The moon -a waning crescent, three days from the new moon- was rising above the ocean, but her light didn't reach this far. It was the full moon that mattered anyways, and they did not need to _see_ her either for the ceremonies. They could feel the phase of the moon at all times, in their scales, their bones, their very souls. 

Lance jolted backwards in surprise when a flurry of movement left the abyss, though he grinned and gave a short, sharp laugh when he realized it was a bunch of squid making their way up to feed in the relative safety of the night. He watched their little blue lights for a while, smiling at the sight when more movement caught his attention. Something had begun to move in the deep, though it circled near the edge of the abyss too and Lance peeked down to watch it. He saw dozens of colours, violet's, reds, greens, blues, all circling slowly and then beginning to rise.

Lance held his breath as he scooted back from the edge, but he realized as they rose past him that it was not one something, but a dozen or so somethings that moved past him. Dots and lines patterned their scales, fins, arms, legs, and even their faces, and it was so beautiful that Lance could hardly believe it.

In this light, the Deep Dwellers looked black to him, though their bio luminescence had some variety apparently. Lance strained his eyes, looking for Keith as they panned out and began to click back and forth to one another, and Lance realized suddenly he could understand their click speech -sort of. It was more or less similar to their own, the one that the merfolk used, though there were some words apparently missing in their speech. Or perhaps they were making frequencies he was unable to hear? There was one red that stuck especially close to a violet lit Deep Dweller, and soon the frenzy began as the pod pinned the squid to the surface to launch their attack.

Lance watched, fascinated as they worked on their prey, drifting up from the sea floor a little to watch. He was forgetting to listen though, but he did catch something important being clicked back and forth too.

_**A thing... bottom...** _

_**...look...** _

_**..Sun...** _

_**At ... night... sleep...** _

_**...know... go look... doing...** _

Lance had difficulty determining who was saying what, and what was being said when one of the red bio luminescent Deep Dwellers -the one who had been sticking near one of the violet ones- peeled off from the attack and came back down. Towards him.

“Whoa!” Lance yelped, louder than he probably should at this time of night and tried to move away, but the Deep Dweller was faster and more agile than he was. Their fins seemed to have much less in the way of showy floating size. Tapered, small, built for speed and agility like a shark. When he got close though Lance felt his heart skip a beat and he grinned a little at the sight of Keith, even if Keith looked less than happy to see him.

“Hello Gorgeous!” Lance said again, though this made Keith frown in apparent annoyance. Keith raised one finger to his lips, though he spoke to Lance in return.

“So loud. Not Gorgeous. _Keith. Keeeith._ Okay? What is Loud One doing here?” Keith asked. His tone was partly surprised and partly irritated, and Lance supposed he could understand both of those emotions. He irritated a lot of merfolk after all. Every full moon in fact with his half strangled song. 

“Oh! I uh, wanted to see you again I guess? Yeah, I did _not_ think this one through, I admit it. But I'm here now, so uh, want some help hunting squid? Or something? And my name is definitely not 'the Loud One', it's _Lance_ okay?” Lance would definitely be okay with helping Keith and apparently several other Deep Dwellers with their hunt. 

“Quieter.” Keith insisted, looking up then at the pod as it picked off the small, glowing squid easily enough. Lance looked up too, and he was surprised to see one of the violet bio luminescent Deep Dwellers had paused to watch them cautiously. It was the one Keith had been swimming beside before, Lance noticed, though he also noticed only now that this Deep Dweller's silhouette was strange.

The Deep Dweller was very large, probably strong enough to crush Lance like a seaweed leaf, but he was also missing his right arm. His scales and hair looked black, but it was harder to tell in this low light too, and his hair appeared to have a shock of white running through it at the front. It was impossible to really map much in the way of features on his face with so little light, and Lance could only just make out a concerned expressions on the larger Deep Dwellers face if he strained hard enough, when Keith sighed and Lance's attention snapped back to him.

“Fine. Can't stop you,” Keith said, turning and darting upwards again quickly. Lance noted his tone sounded more pleased though somehow than annoyed or frustrated, which was interesting. So did Keith want to hunt with him then? Perhaps Keith, at the very least, was as curious about Lance as Lance was of him.

Lance darted up after Keith, a huge grin plastered to his face that showed all his pointy teeth as he joined in the hunt. He had a lot of trouble working out what the different Deep Dwellers were saying, but he was at least able to tell the difference in how they clicked, the timber of their tones. Some of the noises he supposed he simply could not hear. Other sounds he could hear, but they were not sounds that he had ever heard used by merfolk before and he sincerely doubted he could mimic them. As it was he could only understand handfuls of words, and with only that, it was a little frusrating trying to catch squid.

They fed though until the shoal was gone, the last handfuls escaping into the depths again or being snapped up by a Deep Dweller or passing fish, though not much was out right now. Lance was in a good mood, other than not being able to speak really without using words. The Deep Dwellers seemed curious about Lance too though, circling him almost warily.

Lance was admittedly nervous watching their dark shapes, lined with dots and swirls of light circling him, watching him with their glowing eyes. The old stories said they would eat him, or worse, but it seemed like they were not keen on getting too close to him. One little one, with orange dots darted in finally to poke at Lance's caudal fin, and with them so close Lance was able to see that they were just a small child.

Their eyes widened in fascination at the size of Lance's fin, which was especially large and showy -one of the few things he liked about his tail fin really- and twisted to tap their small fin by his. Like Keith's, it was small, not at all flashy, and built for speed and precision. Another, much larger Deep Dweller with golden yellow bio luminescence darted in and tugged the little one out and away from Lance, and with that they began to descend again.

Lance tried following them, naturally, he did not see the lip of the sea floor as it opened into the chasm, nor could he really in this lower light level. Keith turned, and swam up again when he noticed, one hand pressing to Lance's chest and Keith pushed him back up with a small frown, those glowing violet eyes locked on Lance's. Lance noticed the giant violet one pause within sight of them too, watching them carefully.

“Stay.” Keith said sternly, his voice as quiet and soft as ever, though Lance could hear him just fine right now. Not enough ambient noise to need Keith to speak any louder really.

“But-” Lance wanted to protest, but he knew he probably could not survive or function down in the abyss. Keith was right to stop him from following, not that he would admit to it.

“Won't survive. Sun Dweller should stay. Loud one could come back though. When sun is high.” Keith almost whispered that, lancing back at the larger one who seemed to be waiting for him at the cusp of where Lance's eyes could see them, even all lit up.

“Lance,” he corrected, grinning though at the thought of coming back. Sure, he was grounded, but Lance was good at sneaking out. He was here after all, right? And if it meant getting to see Keith again, Lance would make sure to be here.

“When sun is highest. Lance comes back?” Keith seemed to be asking so Lance nodded, a little numbly. Did this mean Keith was curious too? About him, about Sun Dweller's? Of course, Lance supposed, they didn't really call _themselves_ that. They called themselves merfolk. It was the Deep Dwellers that were different, supposedly, but Lance was beginning to question just how much of those tales were fiction and how much were true. Obviously Deep Dwellers existed, but Lance was beginning to strongly suspect that they were not generally in the practice of eating innocent merfolk. 

Keith nodded once more before turning and darting quickly down, the large violet one looking back at Lance one last time, before following their pod into the darkness. Lance could not have made out the expression from this far, and other than the apparently missing right arm, Lance had no idea what he really looked like.

Lance finally turned and made his way back towards the faint gleam of light from the Balmeran Crystals that decorated the edge of the city, quiet as he slipped past the guards and patrols, and silent as he managed to squeeze back into his bedroom through the opening in the coral and rock. He would be tired tomorrow, but that had been  _ more _ than worth it! Lance had really seen them! So many of them! 

He had at least a hundred questions he needed to as Keith too now, and maybe a little flirting. Or a lot of flirting. Keith was pretty cute after all, and anyways, if it was true that Deep Dwellers had no songs in their soul, maybe Keith would consider being with him? Lance's weird song should be no deterrent to someone who had no song at all, right? And anyways, it was not like Lance had a match for his song. There would be no one missing out on him.

Lance grinned to himself at the thought of seeing Keith again, when the sun was up again though.  _ When the sun is high _ was what Keith said. Lance would go alone this time, so Hunk could not tattle on him, and probably he should aim for a little before noon. What if Keith beat him up though? What if Keith had not meant that he planned to meet Lance after all? What if something monstrous and huge came up from the deep instead? 

Lance shook his head to dislodge that last thought from his mind and settled himself onto the smooth rock he preferred to sleep on. Keith would be there. Keith had looked curious after all, and had apparently not wanted the giant, violet Deep Dweller pod-mate to know either, considering the quiet, almost inaudible tone he had used. Lance might have pretty lousy total darkness vision, and difficulty with the lower light, but he had excellent hearing, and even he had to strain to catch Keith's words after all.

The smile that crossed his face as Lance closed his eyes at long last was almost serene, even with his excitement and nervousness about all of this. There was only two things Lance knew for absolute certain right now. That he was absolutely going tomorrow, and that he could barely wait until he saw Keith again. He was not entirely sure if it was because Keith was a Deep Dweller, or if it was because Keith was the prettiest face Lance had ever seen in his life. Only one way to find out.

 


	4. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance sneaks out at high noon to see Keith again, and learns far more than he expected to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couple of things: I meant to have this chapter out way sooner but my computer died. As in I had to get a brand new one. 
> 
> Also: I GOT FANART??? OMG??? THANK YOU???? [PLEASE GO LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS??? ](http://00-nyx-00.deviantart.com/art/Moonsong-Klance-675679806)

Lance should definitely not have stayed up all night hunting squid with a pod of Deep Dwellers. He managed maybe an hour or two of sleep from the time the sun rose, to the time Rhea came in to wake him up, loudly calling him a lazy calf for whining when she bumped Lance off the coral he usually slept on.

Lance managed to do some chores and then, as the sun rose towards it's highest peak, he thought about how best to slip off to the abyss again. He desperately wanted to see Keith again, despite his exhaustion, though needless to say he would not be going again tonight. Lance half wished he could just stay near there or reverse his hours to see Keith more, but this was probably dangerous enough already. If anyone in the city found out, there would be hell to pay, and Lance had no doubt the others would claim he had been enchanted and bewitched by Keith.

Despite these risks, Lance wanted to get to know Keith. Something inside him seemed to pull towards Keith, much like the moon and the ocean pulled him too sometimes. Keith, from what Lance could see, was so beautiful. Not at all what most merfolk Lance saw normally, but strikingly beautiful in his own way. Lance could hardly wait to study him properly today, though he became antsy as it got closer to when he had agreed to meet Keith too.   
  
Lance finally relented though and pretended he wasn't feeling well, asking his mother if he could have a break from the extra chores and go sleep for a while. He had the exhausted look down pat at least, and his mother looked concerned when Lance finally asked, placing one of their hands against Lance's neck and below his dorsal fin to check for a fever.

“You don't feel warm, but you do look sick. Go rest then, you can come help me later. I'll let you sleep for now,” They said gently shooing Lance toward his room. It seemed they did not expect him to be lying to them, but then Lance really was exhausted.

He waited a few minutes before slipping through the small opening in the coral hurrying fast to where he needed to be. Or as fast as he could with his fins all flared out as they were, to help himself melt into the water. The sun was in a good position for that, and for once Lance was grateful that he was so dull and boring, since he was harder to spot like this.

The blue scales that patterned his shoulders and down his back, mixing with dark skin caught the sun just right to help hide him against the sand. He left his caudal fin spread wide, the four fins fanned out and rippling softly in the water. Right now the light made it appear almost invisible, but sometimes if one looked carefully they would notice just a trimming of white along the delicate edge of the fin. It matched on his dorsal, currently collapsed against his back to be harder to spot, though it made it more difficult to turn.

Once Lance was past the guard watch though he did not bother quite so much with his attempts to be invisible, and began racing for the abyss, his dorsal popping up again, his caudal , anal, adipose, and pelvic fins pulling together more to streamline him better. Those were larger than most mer had, more delicate and fragile looking -though just as strong as others had. For someone with such stunning fin structure, he sure got short changed on his colours. The sun had just reached its peak when Lance arrived at the edge, turning on a dime to help stop before he darted out over the edge.

Slowly, Lance peeked over the edge, looking left, then right for any sign of Keith but there was no sign of him. Lance pouted and rested down in the sand, staring right down. It took him nearly a full minute before he realized something was staring back at him and he yelped, scrambling back a little before peeking out again.

“Uh, Keith? Is that you?” He asked. Keith seemed to be lingering near the edge of the midnight zone, a dark shape against the darkness, barely visible, and only thanks to the sun shining on his scales. At the question though, he began to come higher, and Lance realized it really was Keith, a grin splitting across his feet. Keith looked a bit drowsy, but not nearly as exhausted as Lance felt. Keith was acting a bit different though, especially as he reached the lip and poked his head over the edge of the ocean floor where it dropped off.

“It is very bright here,” Keith murmured, squinting a little. Lance was a little surprised that he could not see the bio luminescent spots and swirls Keith had last night, but he supposed it might simply be too bright for them to be noticeable. Now Lance was quite sure though, Keith was not black. He was a very, very, dark shade of crimson instead. Red, but as if the scales had been draped in some sort of veil of black, only noticeable when the sun hit the scales just right, and only in the center of the scales it seemed. It was the most stunning colours Lance had seen in his life.

“I guess it probably is a lot brighter than you're used to huh? You can close your eyes if you want to?” Lance offered. In this light Keith's eyes looked more grayish or dull blue than violet, though it may have been bio luminescence there too. The three rows of teeth were still off putting though.

“I will not. Sight is necessary.” Keith said, shaking his head and yawning widely as he moved up and drifted onto the sand beside Lance, settling down in it. Lance looked over the fins, sleek and small, not showy at all. They seemed to be total opposites in those regards.

“So do you guys come up every night from the abyss? What's it like down there?” Lance asked, keeping his voice down too. The last thing he wanted was for someone to catch them after all.

“Usually yes. Not in bad storms. It is dark, quiet, and lonely. What is Sun Dwellers like? Pod's are bigger? Louder too,” The last one seemed to be more of a statement than a question and Lance laughed at that making Keith frown at him, eye's glancing about in concern.

“Well, I guess we're louder? Or you guys are just really quiet. We have pods, but we don't usually travel too much any more, we just stay in the city over there all year round now, since it's pretty warm here,” Lance shrugged one shoulder, a casual and soft smile on his lips as he kept his eyes on Keith.

“Quiet is good. Things eat Loud Ones like Lance,” Keith said softly, though he seemed more concerned than teasing when he said it which surprised Lance a little bit. He supposed the abyss must actually be pretty dangerous, but if it was so deadly, why live down there at all?

“Er, right. I mean there's stuff up here that might eat you too, but probably not, since we stay in the cities. The guards get to anything too dangerous, but I guess that's a dangerous job too, guards do die sometimes in a fight,” Lance said, thoughtful for a moment. Keith seemed a bit confused though by that.

“No giant squids?” He asked, his fin flicking lazily in the sand as he watched Lance.

“Well, not usually no. One comes up now and then from the Abyss, but it's pretty rare, and they've never hit the city before, the guard always stops them,” He said.

“Gulper eels? Viper fish? Vampire squids!” Keith asked, his voice getting surprisingly loud. Well, loud for Keith, he was still pretty quiet as he asked.

“Honestly, I don't even know what those are,” Lance admitted, nearly laughing at the look of shock on Keith's face when he said that.

“None of them?” Keith asked, his tone amazed and back to it's apparently usual volume.

“I mean, we do have some stuff though? Like sharks, they can be dangerous, but we usually only get reef sharks. Oh, and cone snails, and sting rays can be pretty deadly too, and lion fish and stone fish are not something to mess around with either. We don't get any water snakes around this area usually either, but jelly fish can turn up and if they start drifting to town we just get out of their way,” Lance hoped that sounded at least as scary as a gulper eel did to him. 

“We have sharks! And jelly fish too,” Keith seemed quite pleased that they had some dangers in common, and Lance thought that was kind of cute. An odd thing to try and find common ground on, but Lance did need to feel brave suddenly, since _vampire squid_ and _viper fish_ sounded properly terrifying. 

“Okay, so things in common are sharks and jelly fish, but we have to have more then that right? I mean we mostly have the same language, even if your grammar seems a bit different. Hey have you ever met any Mer- I mean, Sun Dwellers before me?” Lance supposed they _must_ both be merfolk after all, despite the old stories and fables. 

“No. Lance is the first,” Keith said, shaking his head. Keith was watching Lance cautiously before he said any more. “Actually, We are told stories. Sun Dweller's are dangerous. My brother scolded me at the sun rising over Lance.” Keith pouted a little at that one. 

“Wait really? We get told the same thing about you! I-I mean uh, what _exactly_ do you get told about Sun Dwellers?” Lance was very curious about this. Why would both sides be told to avoid the other? Surely that was a recipe for disaster. 

“Needlessly violent. Vain. Beautiful so you can trick us,” Keith said, though he did avert his gaze at the 'beautiful', and his scales seemed to momentarily get redder. Lance could not help the chuckle that left him then. Beautiful? Then Keith had nothing to worry about where Lance was concerned. His scales were all the dullest blue, with just the barest hints of white at the very edges of his fins, only visible with good light and against bright colours.

“Well, I'm not beautiful, so no worries there, right~?” He grinned, his tone joking, but Keith seemed startled. 

“Sun Dweller Lance is the prettiest I have every seen,” Keith said, though it appeared like Keith had not meant to say something like that out loud. His scales seemed to get redder again and Lance wondered if that was how Deep Dwellers blushed suddenly. Either way, Keith immediately attempting to bury himself in the sand with an awkward squeak was incredibly cute. 

“Nah, trust me, the others are all way prettier than I am. You should see some of my friends! Hunk is all gold, and his scales _glitter_ when the sun hits them! He's got Four fins on his caudal like me, but they're way bigger than mine are, and they glitter too. And Allura! She's white but she's got pink and purple splotches and dots all over her, even off her scales, it's so pretty! And she grows her hair out really long too, so it all fans out around her and looks like a big silver halo. And Katie! She's all these shades of green, jade mostly, but it gets a dark emerald at the edges of her fins, and the scales on her belly are all minty and soft. I'm just blue, you know? Nothing that exciting about blue. I mean, all of you guys look really cool too, you _glow_ dude, that's _awesome_ , you know?” 

Lance had not realized just how much he talked about his friends until he stopped. Keith was watching him quietly, still half buried in the sand, his arms invisible and sand covering the small of his back, below his dorsal, and parts of his fin. Keith had to move out again slightly to speak, as he had buried himself up to his nose. 

“Lance can melt into water,” Keith murmured softly, but something about the way he said it made Lance's heart flutter and made him want to be buried in the sand too. 

“I-I guess I _can_ do that, yeah. I mean, only if the light is just right, but it's sorta possible, I guess,” Did Keith really think it was that cool that Lance could seemingly vanish in the water? His belly scales were a lighter shade of aqua, and his back could sometimes look as dark blue as cobalt if the light was wrong, sure. But in good light he was just... blue. Lance was just blue. 

“Sun Dweller Lance is gorgeous too,” Keith decided, promptly continuing his attempt to disappear into the sand, though it did not appear to be going too well for him. Lance smiled all the same, snorting a little at Keith's attempt before yawning hugely. No way he could join the Deep Dwellers on the hunt tonight, he was exhausted. 

“You know, you _could_ call me just 'Lance' if you wanted to. Unless I should call you uh, 'Deep Dweller Keith' or something? Or I could go back to gorgeous,” Lance supposed. Keith seemed to have a hard time flirting or being flirted with, but Lance could hardly help it if Keith was this cute every time he did. 

“Just Lance is strange,” Keith mumbled, pouting just a little as he had to re-unbury his mouth once again. Lance burst out laughing at that. There was no winning with Keith, was there? 

“Just Keith is stranger,” Lance managed as his laughter began to subside, though Keith had winced and covered his ears too at the sound. 

“Sun- I mean, Lance is very loud. Are all Sun Dwellers as loud as Lance is?” Keith asked, glancing around in worry again. 

“I dunno. I guess we are? Are all Deep Dwellers as quiet as Keith is?” Lance asked, scooting a little bit closer to Keith, face to face so he could see those pretty eyes. They did not glow violet now, but Lance remembered what they looked like at night all the same. 

“No. I am loud too,” Keith shrugged one shoulder, “especially during the full moon.” Lance did a double take at that. The full moon? Did that mean that Keith, that the Deep Dwellers felt her pull too? Her call to them to sing out their soul for every one else to hear it? 

“I, s-say again now?” Lance asked, though just as Keith opened his mouth to speak he froze and spun looking towards the lip of the abyss. Lance could only hear small fragments of the call being made, but it sounded worried. Maybe annoyed. 

“I should go. My brother woke up. I meant for him to not know about this,” Keith sighed. Lance pouted. Even with how exhausted he was, how he could barely keep himself afloat in the water and how desperately he wanted to curl up and sleep in the sand here, despite the danger of sleeping in the open, Lance did not want this to end. He did not want to say good by to Keith. 

“I wanna meet again. Maybe tomorrow? A little after sun rise?” Lance asked, hopeful that Keith wanted to see him again too. Lance could not fully understand or explain any of this, not to anyone. He wondered vaguely now if he might _have_ to though at some point. Katie would be terribly curious, enough so that she would come see them too. Hunk and Allura would no doubt report him to his mother or the guard -who would then tell his mother. 

“Tomorrow,” Keith whispered, nodding his head and giving Lance a very toothy smile -three rows of teeth! Seriously overkill!- and then darted down again, back into the depths of the abyss. Lance peeked over the lip of the abyss, watching the glow of red appear and begin to vanish into the darkness, a flash of violet appearing for all of a second, and then there was nothing, and Lance was alone. Lance sighed softly, watching the black nothingness for another moment, before turning and swimming home slowly, thinking longingly about the coral he usually slept on as his mind buzzed about all that he had learned. The full moon affecting Deep Dwellers was the most valuable thing he had learned, and he had the urge to try to sing near them now too. 

 


	5. Song Fright and Moonlit Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance councils Katie and then goes on a date with Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while, I am SO SORRY, I actually worked a lot for a few days and uh, yeah. Not much time for writing as a result....
> 
> Also holy crap, there is fanart??? [x](http://pandemi-doodles.tumblr.com/post/160566433994/i-started-reading-moonsong-by-seliphra-and-its) [x](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10932018?view_adult=true) [x](http://lemmesleepallday.tumblr.com/post/160885405251/nah-trust-me-the-others-are-all-way-prettier) I am so sorry if I've missed any!! 
> 
> Also if you are interested in commissioning me to write something you want specifically, hmu on tumblr @seliphra, I do commissions and if you don't want one, please consider donating to my ko-fi to help me keep my neck above water! (Link is on my tumblr, it's against AO3 rules to link it here...)

Lance was definitely, hopelessly crushing on Keith. Keith probably was not his match, of course, but Lance was already somehow in too deep. A small part of him thought that it could be because Keith was a Deep Dweller, he was new and interesting and shiny. Hell, Keith was something Lance had thought to be entirely non-existent last month. A startlingly large part of him hoped Keith was his match, because then Lance would know he _had_ a match, that he was not doomed to be alone for his life, singing a half strangled song every full moon until the day he died. That was the thought that terrified him the most of any other, being left alone for eternity, never finding his match. Certainly, now and then a mer would sing their song and find it was already complete in itself, but Lance knew his was not.

It was a horrible song though, everyone told him as much, reminded him of it almost constantly except for his family and friends. Allura's was too, but the pod as a whole were nicer to her. Maybe because her father was the head of the city guard, or because her pink and purple splotches on silver were pretty. Especially with the gold speckles that ran all over her body. Probably her father, Lance guessed. It was not that Lance's parents were _not_ important, of course, his mother tended the crystals, and his father was part of the coral keeping crew. But tending to coral growth and the crystals was less important than keeping all of them alive, even if the crystals _were_ how they saw at night and prayed to the Goddesses.

Tonight he was going to see Keith again though. He could talk to Keith again, and try to sort his own feelings out, but more importantly he could ask Keith if Deep Dwellers exploded if they came into contact with the air like the stories said. Merfolk -or at least, the Sun Dwellers, as Keith called them- could breath air too, though it was terribly uncomfortable on the gills. Part of this was an old adaptation, his mother told him, to survive in low-oxygen water, and their gills never worked immediately upon birth either. For most, like Lance, it was only a few hours before they could be safely submerged in the water, and would breathe normally. However, some struggled for days apparently, like his brother Taren, who had gone three before his gills would start trying to work, and their parents had begun to worry about having to move to one of the islands to keep him from drowning.

“Helloooooooo!! Lance? Can you hear me? Oi, are you even paying attention to me?!” The annoying voice broke through, snapping Lance back to reality at last. Lance jumped when he realized that Katie had her face just a few millimetres from his own , and to him this was quite a sudden development as he did not even remember Katie entering his room. Lance yelped as he jolted backwards, the back of his shoulder hitting a piece of coral as he did. He wound up letting out a second yelp and grabbing his left shoulder in response.

“What? Huh? When did you get here?” Lance asked, and the look on Katie's face would be hilarious if she did not look quite so ready to kill him over the question he had just asked. It made Lance consider the possibility that he absolutely deserved a sore shoulder.

“I have been here for an hour Lance. Seriously, how did you have no idea I was here, you've been 'yeah' and 'mmhmm'ing this whole time! You are unbelievable!” she said, her scales brightening in her annoyance, fins stiffening out and her arms crossing against her chest. Lance managed a weak smile at her, and hoped he could earn Katie's forgiveness.

“I uh, was pretty distracted I guess. I've got a lot on my mind is all, nothing that _important_ really, but it's distracting. I'm sorry Katie, really. So uh, what brings you by, now that you have my attention?” Lance asked, earning himself a still cautious scowl. Her expression softened a little though after a few seconds, and then she huffed a sigh, and seemed to deflate a little, her brilliant scales returning to their emerald hue as she did, and her dorsal fin relaxing down to half way again.

“Well, I mean, I was kinda rambling anyways and not saying much. I'm uh, nervous? A-about the full moon, I mean,” She said, her whole tail flicking a touch as she did, causing her to shift in the water toward Lance's ceiling while her eyes fixed themselves on a small piece of broken coral on the ground. Probably the piece Lance had just hit a few moments ago.

“Why are you-oh right, this is the first moon that you're gonna sing for!” Lance had almost forgotten about that. They would all finally learn what Katie's song was, and the first full moon was a huge deal for any merfolk. Lance had stressed out for almost all of his time as a fourteen year old. He had worried about everything from what his song would be like, to how it would go, to if anyone would sing with him right away. It was exceedingly rare to find your other half on your first moon, of course, but Lance had been hopeful.

“Yeah, and I'm uh, a lot more scared than I said I was before. Hunk told me I've been extra brave about it, he told me that he was nearly crying on his first moon, but I mean he's not exactly right about me either, you know? I'm really scared, what if I try and nothing comes out? Or it's all garbled and weird?” She asked, though Lance felt his heart sink a little at the second fear. It was a fear Lance had not considered for his first moon, and he knew exactly why Katie was scared of having a 'weird' song.

“Like mine is?” He asked, his tone betraying his hurt at the comment far more than he had meant for it to, and Katie blinked in confusion at him before looking embarrassed.

“That's not what I meant! I-”  
  
“Don't worry about it. It's fine,” Lance huffed, though it was less than fine, and both of them knew it. “Look, you'll be singing with me and Allura too, so if your song is like ours is, no one will notice anyways. And hey, maybe your song will be the most beautiful sound anyone has ever heard.” Lance only wished that were true of his own song. His stupid, hideous song.

“Lance. Seriously, I-I didn't mean-” Katie really did look upset now, so Lance sighed and curled back on himself, bringing his fin over his head and tapping his caudal fins to Katie's head, somewhat burying her in them, thanks to their sheer size and floaty nature.

“I know. It's normal to be stressed out anyways, everyone gets worried about their first moon, but you, Katie, are going to be fine, okay? I think I might just not go this year though. Sing somewhere on my own. Who knows, maybe my mate will hear me that way, right~?” Lance joked, though the pain of being reminded that others now _feared_ sounding like he did still clung to his heart, refusing to be so easily swept aside.

“I bet they're just someone we've never heard singing before right? Who knows, maybe someone in a migrating pod will sing with you in the winter? The arctic goers always sound kinda strange, right?” Katie was obviously trying to make Lance feel better, but it really was not working so well. Lance smiled anyways and pretended to brighten up, if only to make her change subjects. He would probably never feel better about his song.

“Yeah, I bet it's just someone who migrates. Some of them have pretty weird accents, after all, and we only see them a couple months every year anyways, and sometimes we meet whole new pods in winter when they come down,” though the ones who did take mates in stationary pods usually became stationary too, rather than someone becoming migratory. It was apparently easier to stop migrating than it was to start.

“Yeah! See? You'll find the other half of your song one day!” Katie smiled at that, and they managed to find other things to talk about until Lance insisted he had to go help his father with the plans for coral expansion on the reefs.

 

* * *

 

It was evening, and Lance felt the moon rising over the ocean as he set out across the floor of the sea bed. It was before the Deep Dwellers were most active, or so Lance assumed, and after most Sun Dwellers were, and therefore it was a perfect chance to speak with and see Keith. Lance had done his very best to shake all the unpleasant thoughts and worries from his mind, hoping he could learn more about the mysterious creatures that lived in the bottom of the sea and stole Merfolk songs.

If one stole his song, that would be fine with Lance. At least then Lance could not irritate the whole city with it any more on the full moon. If _Keith_ stole his song, that might be preferable of course, but Lance was beginning to suspect that everything said about Deep Dwellers was incredibly wrong. Keith had yet to get too in detail over what Deep Dwellers thought about Sun Dwellers besides them being vain and petty, which when Lance thought about it was not all that far off the mark. He could hardly be upset about that when it was the truth, more or less.

He moved quickly after he was out of range of the night patrol, and to the edge of the abyss,. Lance grinned as he approached and saw a dark shape resting in the sand, faint red spots and spirals already glowing in the failing light of the setting sun. Lance picked up speed and Keith moved up onto his elbows at the change in the water movement to watch Lance approach.  
  
“Keith~! Hi! You're here!” Lance knew he would be, of course, they had planned to meet after all, but somehow he was still nervous about Keith deciding he had now had enough of Lance and never seeing him again. Or worse, Keith hearing his song and never wanting to see him again.

“Yes. We planned for us to both be here,” Keith reminded, raising an eyebrow at Lance. Lance just grinned and settled in the sand next to him. Lance did notice his paler blues seemed to highlight the deep reds in the centre of Keith's scales, almost invisible right now thanks to night falling. The parts that glowed seemed to come from inside the scales too, until they were in the skin Keith had, but it was definitely an 'inside the skin' kind of glow in Lance's mind.

“Hey, hey, do Deep Dwellers explode if you're in the air? I heard some deep-sea things die if they go above the water,” Lance blabbered, instantly. Probably not a good question to start with, especially when they barely knew each other, but it came out before he could stop it or think of a better way to ask it. He had been thinking about it all day after all, only natural that it would be the first thing to come out, right?  
  
“Those things would die before they reached here. We are born at the surface, we can even breathe air if we need,” Keith said, his expression one of smug amusement more than anger or irritation. Lance was glad he had not just accidentally offended his new friend.

“Oh. Oh, hey, us too! We have to be born there, our gills don't work right for a while, so it's air! And like, low oxygen in the water,” Lance was glad to find another thing in common with the Deep Dwellers, but he was starting to wonder why there was so much in common with them, considering the stories they had. They were very much alike in so many ways, other than Keith had more teeth than Lance did, glowed at night, and could hear sounds Lance could not. Oh, and the whole, Keith would not die at the bottom of the abyss and Lance absolutely would.

“Ours do not work either. It takes a few hours to work, but then we are okay~” Keith smiled, and Lance felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of it.

“Wanna come with me? I know a nice spot. Come on, come on! I wanna go!” Lance said, shifting up and moving above the sand, kicking some of it up and around them. It came without thinking, the urge to show Keith the spot he liked to go sometimes to be alone. Keith coughed and moved out of the sand, though his smile told Lance all he needed and Lance grabbed Keith's hand before swimming along the abyssal ridge before turning away, around the city and towards the islands.

“Where are we going?” Keith asked, still smiling and keeping up with Lance well enough, though as the moon rose and the sun vanished, the glowing marks along his body became ever more visible. The red in his scales seemed to be washed out into black though, and as cool as the swirls, stripes, and dots were, Lance found he liked the strange reddish glow like quality of Keith's scales.

“You'll see! Ah, right, this way!” Lance lead Keith through the coral -empty of other merfolk right now, thanks to the nightfall, though teeming with other life all the same. A few sharks, but merfolk were bigger and a fight, so sharks rarely bothered with merfolk, and for now Lance ignored them too as they moved up higher. Keith was a bit distracted by the coral though, and Lance had to grab his hand again and drag him up towards the beaches of the island, up into the sand and into the open air. Keith moved into the shallows with him and into the beach, though Lance pulled himself right out of the water and onto the still warm sand, stretching comfortably in the moonlight and sand.  
  
“Up there?” Keith asked, his voice echoing weirdly from under water, before he poked his head above the surface, wincing in the mild discomfort of switching what he was breathing. Keith very slowly pulled himself up too, though he seemed much more reluctant to beach himself the way Lance had and it took a few minutes for him to pull himself out to where Lance was in the sand. Lance did notice that Keith's glow was duller under the partial moonlight, though it was only a crescent now, nearly the new moon. Only the largest patterns on his fin, and along his arms and chest glowed still, and his eyes still glowed violet softly. By the Goddess, Keith was so pretty.

“See? It's nice and quiet here. I wish I could make it in there, see what's inside the trees~” Lance said, his fin curling back up on itself, sand caking to it as he moved his caudal fins over his own head. They were still big, but in the air they did not float around which left them looking almost pathetic in Lance's mind. He could move them, but with how much fin he had, all it did right now was make them twitch a little bit, and drip some water.

“The trees? What is a trees?” Keith asked, propping himself up on his hands to see out to the jungle growing on the island, eyes growing wide at the sight. Lance grinned at the look of excitement on Keith's face too, though Keith suddenly began trying to awkwardly shuffle closer for a better look.

“Keith! Keith, you can't go in there, we can't leave the beach okay? C'mon, stay here,” Lance warned, rolling awkwardly in the sand to get closer so he could grab Keith's wrist and stop him from shuffling off and deeper into the island. If they tried to explore they were dead and stranded for sure. Lance knew better than to leave the beaches.

“Just here? But it is so different!” Keith said softly, and the look on Keith's face nearly killed Lance. He looked positively crushed by the idea that he could never see what the trees held or learn more about them.

“Just here. We can enjoy the Moon Goddess though, and the sand, and the feeling of air, right?” Lance asked, smiling at Keith and settling down in the sand beside him.

“Yeah. Okay,” Keith sighed, settling back into the sand, and the serene smile that eventually found its way onto his face as they relaxed on the moon covered beach nearly killed Lance all over again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please picture them both completely coated in sand when they finally get back in the water like lil' sand cocoons


	6. The New Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new moon rises and Lance and Keith meet again. Lance is beginning to think this may have been a bad idea though, can he possibly reconcile his feelings for Keith if he matches his song to someone else?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whhhaaaaat, it's been ages since Moonsong got updated, and I am so sorry. If you would like to help support me financially though (and help me write more) you can become a patron or buy me a Ko-fi on my tumblr page. I also mention when I update and what is being worked on next on there in addition to silly memes. You can also check out my commission information. Anyways, I'm seliphra on tumblr too! 
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and please leave a comment if you did! Even just a keyboard smash, trust me, I read and deeply appreciate ALL comments (And those of you who comment frequently, believe me, I recognize your urls now and I love you all, I always look forward to it!)

The new moon was said to be bad luck. Lance wondered sometimes if that was why he was so plain to look at, if maybe that was why the song he had was so warped and strangled sounding. The Goddess of the Moon gave them their songs, that was why they had the urge to sing them to her and to their mates when she was full in the sky, but the new moon was a different thing all together. And tonight the Goddess was absent from the sky.

Tonight they would sing to the Balmeran Crystals instead, a different song. A prayer for her to hear, that she would return tomorrow night as she always did. The Balmeran Crystals -the stories said- were a direct line both to the Moon Goddess and the Ocean Goddess, who lived in a different realm with many Gods, most unnamed and unknown to the Merfolk. But more then that just a prayer for her to not abandon them, they offered tonight a prayer for the month to come, that all in their pod would remain healthy and safe from anything that might seek to do them harm.

A different mer each new moon would be chosen to lead the singing, it was apparently random, the crystals chose the singer each night as they all flocked to the largest of them, which stood so tall that it crested the surface of the water above them. The water was by no means _deep_ here, but it was not exactly shallow either, and the entire pod could gather around this one to sing, the highest of them being no further up then the centre of the crystal. Impressive too, considering their pod numbered well into the hundreds. 

Stationary pods were much larger, as a general rule, than the migratory pods that travelled thousands of leagues annually, yet Lance was always a little surprised when the migratory pods would appear and number only a dozen or two on average. Lance found himself wondering if the Deep Dwellers were stationary or migratory, and if the pod he had seen a week ago was the whole thing or not. When Lance thought about the Deep Dwellers though, inevitably his mind wandered to Keith too. Did they do this too? A prayer to the Goddess? Keith mentioned the Goddesses of the Moon and Ocean, and the God of the Sun too, a few times when they were able to sneak away and stay together for a while. 

The hum began soft and slow, as the pod waited for someone to be chosen, and Lance sighed softly as the first note sang forth, higher up and around on the other side from where he was. He knew it would never choose him, but that was alright. The note given was clear, sharp, and wordless, but soon the prayer began, the first singer's voice weaving through the prayer they gave differently from all the others. 

Lance sang along with them as the Balmeran Crystals began to hum back, resonating with their voices, the white light swirling suddenly with colour to show the Goddess was listening to them. Or at least, someone in the God's realm. It swirled with soft blues, greens, and purples, a sign that whomever heard them liked their songs. Lance closed his eyes as he sang now though, listening to the melody as the whole pod matched their tunes together. 

When he sang like this, Lance sounded quite beautiful, he knew, but when he opened his eyes he turned around to look out to the ocean, still singing. All the crystals in the city were glowing, but far away near the edge of the city he saw something dark cross in front of the outer crystals. The patrol maybe? They sang too, but near the edges of the city, so they could maintain their vigil and keep the city safe. Lance held a low note now with the others, the high trill of the lead singer echoing through the song too, but he was slowly drifting away a little too. No one seemed to notice as most lost themselves completely in the prayers, and Lance noted those around him had their eyes closed as they sang, much like Lance usually did himself.

Lance cast a last look back before darting out further, still singing as he went. He was near enough to the crystals that they could still hear him, and the smaller ones glowed brighter as he passed them by, apparently liking that someone was singing by them for a change.

Lance paused when he saw a flicker of red and darkness moving through the crystals near the edge, down near the ocean floor, but not from the crystals themselves. Keith's dark shape was especially visible in the city, and he looked almost nervous to be so exposed like this, but he was creeping in closer to the largest of the crystal spires all the same. 

“Keith!” Lance dropped the song, the crystals dimming again by them as he did, and Keith glanced up at him, surprise flickering across his face before he grinned widely at Lance with his too many teeth.

“Hello Lance!” Keith said cheerfully, his too soft voice almost impossible to hear over the din from the prayers at the spire. Even all the way near the edge of the city it was loud, and the crystals themselves seemed to be humming at the same frequency of the song, producing a note of it's own. Lance had not realized before now that all of the crystals in the city produced this tone during the prayer, but even these ones did. 

“Keith, what are you doing here, you're way too close to the city!” Lance warned, swimming to Keith's level, though Keith pouted at Lance when Lance chastised him. Keith needed it though, he was passed the border patrols and actually quite visible against the white, blue, and green glowing crystals. 

“I am perfectly safe. Sun Dwellers are too busy singing to notice so I always come on new moon to listen,” Keith said, and Lance suspected Keith's mysterious brother would not like knowing that. The Deep Dwellers seemed to dislike being spotted at all, and Keith had mentioned Takashi scolding him for sneaking too close or spending time with Lance on occasion too. Lance was surprised that Takashi had not started following Keith yet.

“You come every new moon?” Lance asked though, surprised by that bit of information. “What about the full moon though?” This was a topic they had yet to really broach. Keith hinted that the Deep Dwellers sang at the full moon too, and Lance suspected it was for their mates much like the Sun Dwellers did, but it seemed they did not sing in the new moon. 

“Only at new moon. We sing at full moon instead, the Goddess bids us to sing then. We have to rise, it is dangerous to sing in the depths, but even far below where she cannot see us, we feel her pull. We always hear the song from here though at New Moon. It is very loud and beautiful to listen! Do you sing at both then?” Keith asked. Keith looked like he wanted to investigate closer still, but he was staying beside Lance thankfully. Lance did not want to think about what his pod might do to a Deep Dweller. A few would be in shock, a huge number believed them to be a myth, after all, but once they recovered from the shock, it was anybodies guess what they would do. 

“Sort of. The full moon is for our soul song, the new moon is prayers for the Goddess of the Moon. Do you not pray?” Lance asked, almost appalled by the notion. They had to pray, or she might choose not to return! At the very least, she might get quite angry. 

“Of course we do! Just not by singing. It is too dangerous to be loud in the deep,” Keith reminded, turning lazily in the water onto his back, staring at the crystals. Keith reached out, gently brushing his finger pads against the crystal in front of him and a shiver of blue, white, green, and purple rippled through the crystal he had touched, the point of his finger the source of the colours.

“Keith! Don't touch!” Lance warned. The crystal gave colours indicating that whomever was listening to them tonight liked it, or at the very least did not mind the touch, but Lance had been told his entire life that only the crystal keepers could touch the crystals themselves, to aide in their growth and to keep them clear and clean. 

“Why not? We have one in the deep we guard you know. I touch that one. This one is different?” Keith asked, looking worried. 

“W-well. Only the Crystal Keepers are supposed to, right? To keep them healthy and clean and stuff. But no one else is supposed to. Wait there are Balmera Crystals in the deep? Do you have Crystal Keepers in your pod then? Are you guys stationary then?” Lance asked. That part only just clicked, and it spawned too many questions in his head all at once. 

“Yes, but usually they are red light, not like this. Only us and one other fish can see in red, so it is safe for us to be near. When a newborn is able to breathe the water safely, they are brought before it and it's colour will go different for one moment. It is to be sure the Moon and Ocean Goddesses have seen the new child, and know they are with us,” Keith said. 

“Oh neat. We're born in front of the Moon too, but we don't do that. Actually I was born on a new moon too, so I guess she _never_ saw me,” Lance could hear the bitterness in his own voice as he said it, but he could not help that. Everyone told him he was cursed for it, everyone said that his song and his scales were dull and bad because of it. Because the Goddess's hated him. And Lance believed it even though his friends told him that was wrong, and his parents and siblings told him that was ridiculous. He was bluebecause he inherited different colours, that was all. Everyone in there family was predominantly blue, Lance was just the only one who was _all_ blue, they told him. 

“Never saw you?” Keith asked suddenlt, his voice accidentally louder than Lance had ever heard before, and Keith looked angry too. Keith reached out suddenly, grabbing Lance by the hand and pulled, turning away from the crystal and swimming them out of the city, Lance being towed behind him. 

“Ah! Keith! What are you doing?!” Lance yelped, and Keith looked back breifly, one finger pressed to his lips. 

“Hush! Guard will hear Lance!” Keith warned and Lance swallowed, keeping his mouth shut. Lance also moved his fin now that he knew Keith was taking him out of the city, to try and keep up with Keith. Keith really was faster than Lance could hope to be though, and so he was dragged a little all the same. Once they were further out of the city, away from the guards and the lights, Keith angled up to the surface, though he stopped just shy of breaching, circling below and letting his dorsal fin slice through the surface instead. 

“Keith?” Lance asked sheepishly, as they circled under the surface of the water before Keith took a deep breath and poked his head out of the water at last. Oh right, Keith was still a little nervous about being above the water. Lance poked his head up too, though he was still confused, and sitting like this was difficult for merfolk to maintain. Lance had to spin his tail fin the right way to keep his torso and head above the water. 

“Look,” Keith said, pointing to the sky, high above them. Lance did, but all he really saw was the millions of stars. Certainly more than Lance could ever hope to count. His mother once told him they were the souls of merfolk, who had died and were placed beside the Goddess of the Moon to watch over the living with her for eternity.

“At what?” Lance asked, his voice as soft as Keith's for once. Something about seeing the night sky always left him feeling very tiny. If those really were his ancestors and the ancestors of all merfolk up there, something about seeing them made him nervous, and feel like only a speck in all of creation.

“There, do you see? Darkness lives in those stars?” Keith asked and Lance had to squint but he nodded. In the field of stars, there was a perfect circle shaped void that hung in the sky. 

“Yes,” Lance said. 

“Takashi says that is Moon Goddess. We do not see Moon, but she will see us,” Keith said, and Lance stared harder. Longer than he might normally stare at the moon but he really wanted what Keith had said to be true. 

“You sure?” Lance asked softly, moving his fin so he was floating on his back instead, staring into the abyss of night. He kept his sight trained on the void that Keith told him was the Moon Goddess. 

“Yes. My eyes are better than Sun Dweller's. Trust me, Moon see's Lance, both when you are born and now,” Keith said, and Lance felt a small smile tug at his lips, a strange, sad happiness inside him at the thought of her still liking him. 

“My song is weird you know. No one likes it,” Lance said softly, still frowning at the night sky above him.

“Mine is too. And my brothers. We are too loud, everyone says it is so,” Keith said with a small grin. 

“Too loud huh? I just sound strangled apparently. I mean, even I hear it. I can feel the notes in my throat, but I can't hear 'em,” Lance sighed as he let himself dip below the surface again, Keith following suit. They stayed near the surface for the time being though, just floating a little. Lance could see the city from here though, the crystals shone extra bright at night, and during the new moon while the song happened, they were doubly so. The song of prayer could be heard,, even all the way out here.

“I would like to hear. On full moon, I can come back?” Keith asked. It would be dangerous though, Lance knew what they thought of Deep Dwellers here. Or, those who believed they were real. Those who did not believe the stories would probably believe what the stories said too, if faced with a Deep Dweller all of a sudden.

“I would like that. But we should meet somewhere else, right? The city isn't really that safe for you,” Lance pointed out. He did not want Keith to get hurt, not by anyone, and there was no way Lance could protect Keith all by himself if the whole pod was bent on it.  
  
“The abyss is not safe for Lance either. Lance would die in the abyss,” Keith said with a small pout. Keith looked at the city too, and Lance had a feeling Keith wanted to explore it, even if it was not safe to do so.

“We'll figure it out. Let's meet tomorrow night too okay? The usual time, at the drop off,” Lance said. Lance knew that neither of them could risk much longer though, and already the pair drifted down, Keith's red patters and dots becoming brighter and easier to see as they made their way deeper, the soft violet glow of his eyes making Lance's heart race faster. 

“I will see you there, yes. I wish I could show you the Deep though. Lance would like it,” Keith said with a small smile. Lance's heart skipped another beat, as they sank down to the sandy bottom of the ocean, and settled into it for now, laying beside each other. Lance's eyes dragged over Keith's patterns, admiring the swirls, the dots, the way it seemed to be in every scale but still form a perfectly symmetrical pattern on Keith's body too. How even in the fins, dots and swirls of colour shone out, through his dorsal fin, caudal fin, even his pectorals! Keith was so beautiful it broke Lance's heart, but he should have known better than to get so attached so quickly to someone. 

When they could avoid it no longer Lance slipped away, towards the city as Keith disappeared back into the darkness of the abyss, where no sun ever reached. Lance made it back quite safely too, dodging the guard as he made his way home, and although he felt a little better about being born unlucky -perhaps not so unlucky- he still felt the weight of sadness in his soul, knowing he probably had a mate out there. And the chance of it being Keith was so very terribly low. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't have Klance without angst right? Although compared to some of my other fics, the angst in this is relatively light and will resolve itself a lot faster.


	7. The Deep Dwellers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance hunts again with the Deep Dweller pod, who seem to be warming up to them, but can Keith and Lance really convince them that Sun Dwellers are no threat to them? And more importantly, how can Lance convince the Sun Dwellers the same of the Deep Dwellers?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cafe I write in has broken AC, it's 32*c in there yikers. At least I got this chapter done finally! (I had to rewrite half of it because I hated the first draft...) 
> 
> As always, please leave a comment if you like this, comments are what help me know people are reading these stories, and motivate me to write more and better chapters! 
> 
> September is really bad for hours when you work in retail! Please consider visiting my tumblr (seliphra) and consider donating to my Ko-Fi or commissioning me for fic work in order to keep this fic (and others you may be enjoying by me) continuing!

“Lance, are you really sure you're okay?” Katie asked, for what had to be the seven hundreth time today. Was Lance okay? No, he probably was very much no okay, but he smiled all the same at Katie.

“Yes! I'm fine! Honestly! Why do you guys keep asking me that?” He asked.

“Well you did slip away from prayers,” Allura pointed out, rolling in the water so she was belly up, the sun shimmering brightly off her silver-white scales as they all coasted through the water together. Lance wished he could do that, send little shines of light all over the water and people and coral. Allura always got peoples attention for that, and Hunk too, with his golden shimmery scales.

“I just thought I saw something. And anyways, I kept praying! Besides, that was a few days ago anyways,” Lance wished he could just go to the drop off and settle comfortably in the sand and wait for Keith to come meet him tonight. It had only been a few days since the new moon, but it should be safe now. Keith said that the full moon was the only dangerous time though, the Deep Dwellers lost themselves in the song. Just like the Sun Dwellers. The more Lance learned, the more he realized they were the same. And tonight was special. Tonight Lance was going to meet Keith's pod properly, Keith had told him he would tell the others about Lance when they parted ways at the New Moon.

Lance wondered if they did the songs the same way though. The Moon bid them to sing, and those with their mates or a full song by their own would sing only once, their song from start to finish. Those without would keep going, for hours, until their voices gave out. Or anyone found their match. That pair would sing for hours too, the rest of the choruses dying out to listen and appreciate the first time their pod-members song was being heard in full, in tandem with their mate.

“If you saw something, I'm sure that the guard would get it, wouldn't they?” Katie asked, drifting down when they reached the coral outcropping that they had headed. She quickly settled on to a comfortable outcropping of the coral, smaller then what most would fit, but just right for her. It was in the warm sun, and the Sun God would warm them nicely today. Being spring though, they knew the risk of storms to be ever-present now. No where near as bad as the end of summer storms that raged for days sometimes, but the ocean tasted clean and warm, and their lateral lines did not tell them of any churning water, nearby or far off.

“I guess they missed it. Or it was probably just a fish, and they ignored it. Anyways, I ended up not finding it either, so it doesn't matter, I'm-Huuunk! I was gonna lay there!” Lance whined as Hunks big, golden fin pushed right in to the spot Lance was angling for.

“Huh? We can share Lance! The sun is good here! Come on, share with me okay? Hey! Mom's old pod will be in here on the full moon apparently! They're about to head north, and we're on the way, so they're going to stop and say hi and sing with us on the full moon!” Hunk said happily. One of Hunk's mother's had been migratory, part of the north-venturing merfolk, who were larger in size. Hunk was much larger than most tropical dwellers too, and Lance sometimes wished he was big too. Warmer in winter, and maybe in the depths too. Hunk had inherited his colour from his non-migratory mother though.

“Fiiiine!” Lance whined again and draped himself over Hunk's body instead. This would do. Hunk was more comfortable to lay on then the coral anyways, so really it was a win for Lance. Katie rolled her eyes and Allura settled in a good spot too with a yawn and a stretch, closer to Katie.

“This is good~! Ahh, Hunk, that means your cousins will be in town right?” Allura sighed happily, relaxing as the sunlight warmed her scales and skin.

“Yeah! Apparently the pod's gotten a little bigger though, they merged with another pod since one of my uncles found his mate in another migratory pod last summer, I can't wait for you all to meet them though!” Hunk said, and Lance wished he could tell them about Keith. Lance wished Keith were there to join him too now, more than ever.

Lance wished more than anything Keith could always be with him. Ahh, this was so bad. Lance had it so bad. How was he even going to sneak Keith in to sing to him? Or was Keith planning to just barge right in? Whatever. He would ask Keith about it later on instead. For now he would enjoy his friends company, conversation, and sunning himself on the coral.

 

* * *

 

“Keith! Hey!” Lance called when he saw the red lights appear in the deep, and violet light flicked up at him now too. Happiness bubbled in his chest as Keith rose up into view.

“Sun Dweller Lance is _so_ loud!” Keith complained, but for once his voice was just as loud as Lance's usually was. Keith swam up quickly now too, to meet lance, and bumped their fins together in greeting. This seemed to be the same between their different pods, even the migratory merfolk bumped tails in greeting.

“Aww, you like that I'm too noisy though~” Lance joked. Keith's expression was remarkably soft when Lance said that too, something Lance did not expect. It made his heart flutter wildly and he could hardly believe how much he had fallen in love in just two and a half weeks. Lance truly hoped their songs matched, that maybe that was why he fell in love too quickly with this mysterious Deep Dweller who had far too many teeth.

“I suppose this is true. Will you hunt with us again tonight?” Keith asked as they both settled into the sand, side by side, their backs to the crevasse and facing the growing lights of the Balmera crystals in the city. Keith did not even try to deny that he enjoyed how loud Lance spoke.

“Yeah! Totally! I uh, I gotta be back soon though, can't go all night again,” Lance had been too exhausted to function when the last time he hunted with the Deep Dwellers after all, and to push himself like that again was just being a glutton for punishment.

“This is okay! Everyone will be up here soon to make the plan! My brother is... annoyed that I am speaking with you so much though. He is scared you are dangerous. They all wish to meet Lance,” Keith huffed and rolled his eyes, sending violet light around them, and Lance got the sense Keith's pod only wanted to meet him to make sure he would not eat Keith.

“ _I'm_ dangerous?” Lance asked in surprise. He shouldn't be, Deep Dwellers were supposed to be the dangerous ones, though Lance was beginning to think they might not be. They seemed like the migratory pods. Keith spoke in a similar manner to Hunk's mother after all, or rather, his formerly migratory mother. Though even then, her speech was a bit different. She did not use contractions, much like Keith, but her sentence structure was more similar to the stationary pod that Lance lived in. Hunk said that apparently all the stationary pods had similar structures to their language too. Lance wondered if they all started out the same, since all the pods could understand one another, even the Deep Dwellers, whom everyone believed to be myth now.

“You may be,” A new voice said from behind them, and Lance yelped and spun awkwardly in the sand to face another set of violet eyes. Similar to Keith's, but instead of red lights along his body, he had violet again, and the patterns and swirls were different. Now that Lance saw him close up, he was definitely missing an arm, and had a large scar across his nose, and several others crisscrossed along his chest, back, arm, and all his fins. Lance wondered if he had gotten into a fight with a shark or something.

“This is Takashi. My brother. He is quiet like us all, unless he is singing, and then he is loud like I am~” Keith said, smirking at his brother who simply sighed in what Lance could only assume was disappointment.

“Keith. Sun Dwellers are dangerous. Heed the stories,” Takashi said, staying a surprisingly safe distance from Lance. Of all the reactions to meeting Keith's pod, he had not at all expected for _them_ to fear _him._

“Lance is not,” Keith pouted, lifting off the sand, “Lance will hunt tonight, with us.” Lance shrank a little when Keith said that, as Takashi shot Lance an angry look, as though it were Lance's fault that Keith had suggested such a thing.

“ **...foolish... danger... bad...”**

“ **He.... silly... understand... pitch...”**

“ **Sun... song... hunt...”**

Lance only caught the odd word as they clicked back and forth angrily. Others were rising around them now too, only fifteen of them all totalled that Lance could see, but he could not understand what was being said right now. Bits and pieces were audible, but it seemed they spoke outside what Lance could actually hear. He already knew this was a thing, at least, or he might be a little more nervous this time.

“Hey, uh, if it helps Sun Dwellers think Deep Dwellers are dangerous. I can't actually hear most of what you're saying, but I don't want to impose or anything? I can go,” Lance said weakly. He did not want to go. He wanted to win the approval of Keith's pod, his family.

“You tell tales of us?” Takashi asked, within Lance's hearing ability this time. Takashi looked surprised, and Lance noted a few others wore similar expressions.

“Yeah. My mom used to tell me that Deep Dwellers would steal your song if you weren't careful. And like, eat you or something. It was kinda silly, now that I know Keith anyways. So, if it helps I don't want to do any of that, I just like talking to Keith!” Lance said, and a few exchanged surprised looks.

“You may hunt with us this night. The Sun Dweller did no harm to us before,” another said, her lights an electric blue, and she swam slowly forward. Lance suspected she had authority in this pod. Her hair was cropped short too, and her fins dark like Keith and Takashi's. Lance noticed all their fins were dark, but he suspected that like Keith, their scales would have more colour to them if they were in the sunlight, as Keith's did. Maybe even the full moon would be enough? He wondered if he could talk the pod into coming near the city, but there was no way the guard would let them through. The guard was badly thinned on the full moon though, with so many coming to sing, it might be possible, but there was no way they would risk it.

“Thank you,” Lance said, nodding to her. They all had the same fin shapes too, Lance noted. Triangular, sharp, like shark fins, rather than large like the migratory pods, or showy and large like the stationary pods.

“We will speak so you hear us too. Come Sun Dweller Lance. You will stay by Keith. We will drive them up to the surface, and pin them against it. You, Takashi, and Keith will stay on the crystal flank, Narti, Ezor, and Zethrid, to the far side,” she said, before a large number of the pod moved back to the abyss.

“Crystal flank? Keith! Keith what's the crystal flank?!” Lance hissed a whisper to Keith who took his hand and dragged him to the side.

“Near crystals. Crystal side. That is far side,” Keith pointed across the abyss. Takashi joined them, as the three the other mer had named went to the far side, swimming fast to it. Lance was a bit amazed by how fast the Deep Dwellers could actually swim.

“Bury and wait,” Keith instructed, as he and Takashi settled in to the sand, wiggling so sand covered them more or less. With the night upon them, they were almost invisible this way, though Keith's red light was invisible to most of the deep creatures. But when both closed their eyes Lance was confused.

Lance opted to settle on the sand instead, his eyes open. Both Takashi and Keith had their mouths open, and he suspected they were sending sounds Lance could not hear with how their throats moved. He watched quietly and stiffened at the flurry of soft bluish violet lights that poured out of the deep then. Fish or squid? Seemed like small squids, and Keith and Takashi moved with it, holding steady, eyes closed. Keith held Lance's hand and he followed them up before all the Deep Dwellers began to attack. With the squid pinned to the surface, they were able to feast.   
  
They were quieter as they ate, besides the odd blast of sonar to stun them, but those blasts were something Lance could hear too. He used them as well, after all, and he helped keep the squid coralled until every pod member had eaten their fill and allowed the squid to escape back into the abyss below them.

Keith grinned and stuck near Lance while the others in the pod seemed to watch him carefully. Slowly they began to move closer, ocassionally poking his fins, and scales curiously. One actually checked out their fin colour in comparison to Lance's, which was a little funny. The mer in question bolted suddenly in apparent embarrassment when they saw Lance grinning at them.

“Why is Sun Dwellers so light?” One finally asked, a little one, not full grown, and Lance recognized them from the last time he had hunted with the Deep Dwellers.

“I guess since we don't need to blend in to the dark like you guys?” Lance was not entirely sure.

“And no lights on your tummy!” The little one giggled before darting back to their mother.

“Yeah. We're usually awake when the sun is up, so we don't need it to see.”

“Fins are big and showy. Not fast.” Takashi said, sounding like he did not approve of this design. As if Lance could help that!

“We all are. We don't usually have to move as fast for our prey, it lives in the coral with us, so we more have to look big so sharks don't come after us instead. When sharks get close enough anyways. They're usually not too interested in the city since there are so many of us,” Lance shrugged. Keith twirled around Lance in the water as the pod began to descend a little lower.

“Sun Dweller Lance is safe and kind. Sun Dweller Lance should sing with us this time,” Keith said, looking almost nervous as he said it, and it earned him a concerned look from the others.

“We will sing nearer city this time,” The blue pod leader said, though it seemed that was the best Keith would get. If their songs were loud enough though, they could hear it. If they were close enough for that, if it matched, they would be drawn to each other. Lance prayed his song matched Keith's and it seemed Keith was hoping the same thing.

With that settled, Lance returned to his city after saying goodbye to Keith. He could not wait for the full moon now! He would sing to Keith. He would leave the city to find Keith, if only to be sure.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Electric blue mer was Acxa for the record


	8. Migrations and Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The migratory pod arrives, with a couple of new members, and Lance finally drags his three closest friends out to meet Keith, but can they swallow their own preconception long enough to hear them out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a little hard to write lately... part of the problem is my phone was stolen Monday, and I couldn't really head out of wifi until I replaced it. As a result things are a bit tight for a while, but if you wanted to help me out, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi or commissioning me (info all on my tumblr seliphra) 
> 
> As always, please comment if you like the chapter, as that is how I know if anyone is actually reading the story or not!

This was going to be an interesting introduction. Lance planned to introduce Keith to his friends, he really did, and he wanted to, but this was going to be tricky. If he told them before hand that they were going to meet a Deep Dweller, there was no way they would venture out with him.   
  
Hunk was going to be challenge enough to get to the drop off to meet Keith _without_ knowing that was what he was doing, and Allura, for all her beauty and grace, was a terrifying fighter. Lance had once seen her beat up a hammer head that wanted to get a little too close to her before -her fins moving to a threat display had not worked to deter it. And Katie. She was just as scary. She was small, but faster than Lance, and maybe able to out manoeuvre even Keith. Keith was built for speed, and his turns were sharp too, but Katie's were sharper, and she was highly intelligent too. 

No big deal. He just had to lure his friends out to a forbidden area, and hopefully they would not just up and attack the mer Lance kind-of liked enough to want to sing to in... oh God, two weeks. They still had not quite worked out what to do, beyond the Deep Dwellers saying they would move a little closer to the city to sing. Lance knew that this was going to be a big thing, that they would all freak out at first about him putting himself in danger like this, but maybe, maybe since Keith would not attack, they could work it out. Lance was working all of this out on his bed in his families sleeping area, but more specifically the little sub dome he had gotten.

Every family had their own section of hollowed out coral that had been grown to form little domes. Children remained with their parents until they found their mate, and then they recieved their own dome to begin their family. When parents became aged and all their children had a mate, they would live with others who had chosen to stop having, or lost the ability to have children in the largest of the domes. It was a high honour to have earned ones place as an elder too. Lance knew his parents looked forward to it, as they had chosen to stop having children while he was on the way, but so far only one of their children had a mate.   
  
This dome was like all the others, but Lance had found a little offshoot of their dome that he fit into and he always slept in there. At first his parents had been concerned, but they got used to it, and boy it came in handy when you wanted to sneak out in the middle of the night!

“Lance! Laaaaaaaance! Hey Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaance!!!!” Hunk's voice got Lance's attention and Lance sighed as he wiggled out of the hole in his separate dome that led outside to meet up with Hunk.

“Hey Hunk, what's up?” Lance asked with a small grin as he popped his fins out. The size and flutteryness was really all he had going for him, so he often showed it off, even to just his friends.

“Your mom says you're not grounded after all now, want to go hang with everyone? I know Katie is still pretty scared about her first Full Moon, so I thought maybe we could go see her? Also Mom's pod comes in today and I wanted you to come meet them!” Hunk said, his own gold fins flaring a little more in his excitement. Ugh, why did Hunk have to be all golden and pretty? So not fair!

“Yeah. Good behaviour. Come on, let's get Katie and Allura then, we can all go watch them come in together, okay?” Lance said, already moving along the coral and up, towards Katie's place. Hunk followed close behind Lance.

“Yeah! Okay! Hey, are you excited about the full moon? I mean there will be an extra pod to sing to, maybe one of us has a mate in there,” Hunk pointed out, looking hopeful. Hunk did have a song reminiscent of his mothers, both of whom had one that sounded a bit more like the songs the migratory pods had. 

“Maybe. Maybe you do, anyways, I don't think I do. Besides, I kinda have someone I want to try singing to this month,” Lance shrugged. He wanted to sing to Keith, he hoped Keith was his match but there was always the chance, always the possibility that he was not. In all likelihood Keith was not Lance's mate, but he really hoped it.

“You do? You're not going to try singing to Allura _again_ are you? Because I think she's a little sick of that. Your songs just don't match dude. I mean they kinda sound similar in some ways, but they don't match,” Hunk said calmly. 

“I know they don't match Hunk, it's not Allura. Tell you what, after we meet your mom's old pod, you guys can all come meet him with me, okay? Near the drop off, since it's quiet and he's kinda shy, and there's a _lot_ of you.” Lance hoped Hunk would agree to it if he thought they were meeting someone that was already a member of their pod. 

“Alright, yeah. Uh, does it have to be at the drop off?” Hunk asked, voice becoming squeaky in nervousness again.

“Yes. I already planned to meet up with him there anyways, he won't mind if you guys come meet us too! We uh. We both... want to sing to each other actually.” Lance said, his scales flushing bluer and his cheeks turning pink.

“Lance! Aww, that is so cute! Okay, I'll come, of course I'll come meet him! That's so nice Lance, it's so cute!” Hunk said, and Lance supposed he should have known _romance_ would be the way to get Hunk to the drop off. 

“Thanks buddy. Oi, Katie!” Lance called, thumping his tail over her dome with a grin. He broke a little surface coral doing it, but no big deal, it would grow back in a year or so.   
  
“Lance, you shouldn't be mean to the coral,” Hunk scolded as Katie popped out and darted over.

“Hey guys! Lance, stop hitting my house, my parents are going to kill you if you keep that up.” She said with a small pout. Lance grinned and rolled on his back, swimming upside-down towards Allura's.

“Yeah, yeah, come on, we got one more stop and then we're going to watch Hunk's extended family come in! It'll be cool to meet them again, it's been what, five years since the last time their migration came through here?” Lance asked.

“Around there, yeah,” Hunk said as he followed Lance, and Katie moving beside Hunk for now, matching their pace. Hunk was a lot slower than most of the coral-based merfolk, but he also had more than twice their stamina, Lance had learned.

“Oh, there you all are,” Allura said as she caught up to them, and from behind them. Lance turned and flipped back over to right side up, grinning at Allura.

“Hey! We were just coming to see you, actually, Hunk wants to go meet his mother's old pod when they come in, and uh, actually there's someone I would like all of you to meet afterwards, but it's a little... near the drop off,” Lance said.

“Cool, drop off~” Katie said with a huge grin. Lance knew she was terribly curious about what lay in the abyss, so maybe she would be too distracted by asking Keith questions about the different deep sea monsters to attack him?

“Did you not just finish being grounded for going out there?” Allura asked, raising an eyebrow at Lance.

“No. I was grounded for trying to go _down_ the abyss. Not going out to it. And I won't go down the abyss, so don't worry,” Lance said, waving one hand to dismiss Allura's concern as they swam. She did not look like she believed him, but she was not arguing either, which was probably a good thing.   
  
“Okay, right here!” Hunk said, as they approached the edge. They were opposite the abyss, but near the coral mount too. The coral only breached the water surface in a couple of area's on their reef, and of course there was the sandbar to the south, and this did not include the central crystal that went above properly except when storm swells came. The abyss lay on one side, and open ocean to all the others, once one went past the southern sandbar, but the pod was coming from the west. The ocean sides sloped down certainly, but not out of sight and not so sharply as the abyss did. Lance did note there were fewer guards on this side. Not as many Balmeran crystals either.

Hunk's mothers both joined them before too long, his migratory mother, Delilah, looking positively anxious as they waited before she and Hunk both perked up. All merfolk had long-distance calls, but the migratory pods all could hear the calls from much further away than non-migratory merfolk. Hunk's mother called then and smiled as her mate held her hand tightly.   
  
“Oh, it's been too long,” She said, calling again happily to them. It was a little bit longer before the others could all hear them too and less than a minute after that they could be seen, moving surprisingly fast. Lance supposed it made sense. The migratory pods could move fast once they got going, and keep their pace up for many leagues. They did lack the ability to make sharp turns though, and they were not quite as pretty as the coral based merfolk. 

“Delilah!” One mer launched himself at her, hugging her tightly and she gave a laugh, hugging back. Most of them hugged her and Hunk both, as well as Delilah's mate and Hunk's other mother, Aria. Aria was as much a part of the migratory pod as Delilah was of the coral reef pod. Lance did notice a couple who hung back that he did not recognize from the last time this pod made their way through this area. 

“And who are these two who have joined you?” Delilah asked after a moment of group hugging, apparently not recognizing them either. 

“Ah. I am Shay. And my brother Rax. We were taken in last year by your family when ours um...” Shay looked rather sad and Lance felt a little bad for her. Rax was scowling, and looked as though he would rather not be here at all. 

“I see. I am sorry to make you think of sad things then. You are with my family though, and I know they will keep you both safe from harm,” Delilah said with a gentle smile. 

“I do not see why we must spend an entire week.” Rax muttered then, though everyone heard him. The rest of the migratory pod seemed to be used to this sort of attitude. 

“Rax. We have never seen a _city_ before! I would see it all! And so many crystals in one place!” Shay seemed more excited and Lance grinned and swam up. 

“Well, I'd be happy to show you around of course, no one knows this place like me. And uh, m-my friends too of course!” Huh?! When did Hunk swim over? And get so bold? He seemed taken with Shay though and Lance smirked a little bit. Interesting. Kind of cute too. Lance hoped it went well for Hunk's sake anyways. 

“I-I would very much like that,” Shay said, looking shy, but smiling too. Definitely cute, Lance decided. Ah, but would Hunk be willing to sneak off _without_ Shay now to the drop off?   
  


* * *

 

“You sure we gotta meet this person out here Lance?” Katie asked as they slipped through the crystal fields towards the abyss. 

“Yep. Come on, nearly there!” Lance said as they darted out past the guards. Hunk stuck close to Lance with a terrified expression on his face, and Katie and Allura stuck close together too. 

“I don't suppose they could just meet us in the city? Was it really not okay to bring Shay along? I kinda like her,” Hunk said, sounding as scared as he looked and Lance huffed softly. 

“No. He couldn't. And I don't want to overwhelm him with people who just arrived today either! Not nice, right?” Lance said as they reached the edge and he stopped, peeking over. No sign of Keith yet. 

“He isn't here yet? Er, one of us should watch for movement down there right? Oh, father will absolutely _kill_ me if he finds out I've been out here,” Allura fretted. Lance was quite relaxed as he settled in the sand though. 

Even with what Allura said though, only Lance would actually look over the edge, and he grinned at the spots of red, and then Keith's shape as it got closer. Keith looked nervous too though and peeked over the edge at Lance's friends first. All three were facing the city, until Lance moved, catching their attention, but even then, they did not immediately see Keith, until Lance moved behind him. 

“Holy shit!!” Katie yelped, scrambling backwards and apparently forgetting how to swim in her panic. Allura yelped as did Hunk and they tried to haul fin too, but Lance managed to move in front of them. 

“Wait! Wait, that's Keith! He's friendly I promise!” Lance said, though they did not seem too keen on listening until a rather large, dark shape with violet lights moved to where they were trying to escape. Takashi eyed them all with a frown, most of that focused on Lance. Allura, Katie, and Hunk were all hugging each other in fright. 

“Um. Hello. Sorry Lance, my brother insisted on coming as well. He says Sun Dwellers are too dangerous to be with so many,” Keith said, though he was still rubbing his ears. “It is true then, all Sun Dwellers are as loud as Loud Lance is.” 

“S-S-Sun Dwellers?” Katie squeaked. 

“You dwell in sun. Sun Dwellers,” Takashi said, huffing. “This idea is a bad one. Sun Dwellers are dangerous, we should go, you should not sing to Sun Dweller Lance.” Takashi said, moving around again. Keith was properly out of the abyss crater now, and pouting visibly. 

“Lance is not a danger! Lance is nice!” Keith said, and Lance smiled a little bit at that. Did Keith really think so? 

“Wait, we're not dangerous, you are!” Hunk finally said, too surprised to be scared any more.

“No, they aren't Hunk. I've been meeting up with Keith for like a month! He's not even a little bit dangerous! I mean, not to me anyways. Maybe to a giant squid or a shark, but not to other merfolk. And they have songs too guys!” Lance said, his excitement getting a hold of him again. 

“Well, er, in that case, I apologize for how we acted towards you both. Er. My name is Allura, it is very lovely to meet you both,” She said. Shiro turned again, mouth open, glare solid, to tell her off too apparently, but he stopped as soon as he saw Allura and then nodded instead. Keith smirked a little and bumped his brother's fin with his own before circling Lance in the water and settling beside him in the sand happily. 

“So you guys... don't steal songs?” Hunk asked weakly, and Katie grinned suddenly. 

“You guys are bio luminescent! Do you all have the same colours? I mean, you two are kinda different, but your eyes glow the same colour. Can you see different colours? Are you born in the deep or near the surface? Can you guys see down there? Can you turn your bio luminescence on and off? Do you-”

“Katie! One at a time!” Lance finally interrupted when Keith and Takashi both looked a little overwhelmed. 

“Oh. Oops. Guess I'm just excited,” She grinned sheepishly. All of her questions would be answered though. And more importantly, a few in Lance's pod were opening their minds to the possibility their old stories might not have been entirely correct. It was true, the abyss was dangerous to them, without the special adaptations the Deep Dwellers had, they would assuredly die. But it seemed the Deep Dwellers themselves were only different from other groups of mer in the same ways they were all different from one another. The same species, the same origin. Just differently adapted to where they lived, better suited for it. 

 


	9. The Full Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is finally the full moon, but Lance and Keith's plans to sing in private do not go exactly as planned, and Lance's pod may not be as open as his friends were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here. The Full Moon. One more chapter after this, so it's almost done! As always, please comment if you enjoyed it, as that is how I can tell if anyone is still reading this (and it really doesn't have to be much, or constructive or anything! You can do :D or 'i like this' and nothing more, I promise I still cherish those too!) 
> 
> Please be sure to check out my tumblr @seliphra and consider comissioning me or donating to my Ko-Fi to keep this and other stories going!

“I can't believe it, I can't believe this is it, I am _so nervous_! How does anyone do this?! What if I try to sing and nothing comes out?! What if I don't even have a song?! What if-” Katie spun in dizzyingly tight circles around a crystal out in the fields. As she spoke, her circles began to become faster and faster, until Lance thought he might loose his lunch just looking at her. 

“Katie, _SHUT. UP_ _!”_ Lance was surprised that it was Allura of all people to finally say something about it. Katie did halt in the water very suddenly all the same, looking embarrassed and glancing shyly at Allura. 

“Uh, look, what Allura meant is that _everyone_ is nervous about their first full moon. But you are going to be fine Katie! You are going to have all of us there with you. Well, for most of the night, I mean, I _am_ sneaking off after the first two rounds to see Keith, just to... just to be sure.” Lance said. He really hoped they matched, but he dared not hold out too much hope for it either. 

“Are you _really_ sure it will be okay?” Katie asked, circling the crystal again, albeit more slowly this time.

“Yes. We are _really_ sure that everything is going to be just fine. And everyone has a song Katie. Yours might already be complete, but you have a song that speaks of who you are. All of us do, remember? And solo songs are so beautiful to hear, remember? So there is nothing to worry about! You have a song, and you finally get to hear it tonight,” Allura said, smiling now.

“Okay. Okay. I'm just really nervous I guess, since-. Well, I guess that's normal too, right?” She asked with a sheepish smile at the lot of them, and Hunk laughed and nodded.

“Yeah! Remember how nervous all of us were when had our first full moons? Well, you probably don't remember Allura's since she's old and all-oof!” Hunk was cut off when Allura body checked him for calling her old.

“I am not old Hunk! I'm only nineteen winters!” She huffed, causing Lance and Katie both to laugh.

“I mean, she isn't wrong Hunk. Allura is only two years older than us. And Katie was almost nine when Allura first sang her song, that's plenty old enough to remember her,” Lance reminded with a little grin. It was true though. They all had been horribly nervous at their first full moons, and despite being the same age, Lance and Hunk did not share theirs, being born at different times of the year.   
  
“Yeah, I guess. Still, I mean, everyone is nervous on their first full moon Katie. Yours can't be any worse than anyone else, right?” Hunk said, smiling and patting Katie's shoulder gently. Hunk did not mean it as a slight, but he felt the sting anyways. Allura had flinched a little at the comment too, though Hunk and Katie both seemed not to notice their discomfort with the comment.

“Maybe,” Katie sighed, but she was still a ball of anxiety, and it showed in how she continued to swim circles well into the afternoon. Lance was as nervous as she was this time though, and he knew it was because he had found someone he wanted his song to match. He desperately wanted it to be Keith now, and Lance could not explain the pull he felt to Keith any other way. This was worse than his first full moon in a lot of ways, but he would not admit it.

 

* * *

 

 

As the sun began to set low over the horizon, the merfolk gathered together near the largest of the Balmeran crystals in the centre of their city to sing to one another again under the full moon. She had not begun Her ascent into the sky just yet, but already Lance could feel Her call to sing through every cell and scale in his body. It vibrated inside him, an energy he knew only on the full moon and one that he knew everyone else felt.

“I feel really weird. Is this what it's always like?” Katie asked softly, still circling, though she circled all her friends at the moment as they all found a spot to sing together. The energy was worse in her, Lance knew, he had been the same on his first full moon. It got less intense after the first one, though his mother warned him that when he heard his mate the first time it would feel like nothing else ever would in life. Lance longed for that sensation, whatever it was.

“Yes Katie. It's always like this,” Allura said, smiling a little. Always like this, even when they found their other halves, though they could stop singing after one rendition if they chose once the song was completed.

“I don't like it,” Katie muttered softly. Lance agreed privately. It was an uncomfortable energy, and the energy slowly shifted inside their veins as the Moon made Her appearance on the horizon. Large as ever, She began to rise up through the sky, and the need to sing began to burn inside all of them, electric and tingly, before a low hum suddenly moved through all of those gathered. It was tuneless at first, a single note that all present matched as the Moon began Her journey across the sky.

It was when the Moon was fully over the horizon that the note changed suddenly. All in the same moment, every merfolk gathered began their song's different notes. At first Lance felt no different than usual as he sang. Relieved to be singing, a little embarrassed by how strangled it sounded, but he soon began to hear the others around him.

Katie was grinning as she sang her song the first time, louder and clearer than most could and everyone could hear it in the tones, the notes, the clicks, whirls, and whistles. Katie had a full song in herself, and Lance was a little jealous. She would never have to worry about her other half, because she was already complete.

Allura tapped Lance's shoulder as she sang, pointing to Hunk who was drifting absentmindedly through the crowds, towards the edge of those gathered, near the crystal fields and Lance grinned, following him now. Katie was fine, she would no doubt stop singing once the full song was out, and she seemed as lost in herself and her complete song as any other merfolk was when they found their mate. Lance very much doubted she would notice them gone right away.   
  
Hunk paused at the outer limits, and met Shay there, and the pair began to circle around each other, singing. They matched, the notes different, but completing one another in a way only a matched song could do. Lance felt another spike of envy at that. It was so unfair that he should go so long with a broken song! And nothing to show for it either.

Nearly every singer suddenly stopped though near the bottom and a panic seemed to ripple through the whole pod as a warning cry interrupted the songs. _Danger! Danger! Danger!_ It echoed through the water, something Lance had never seen before, and a flurry of movement as guards scrambled to try and fight it, but Lance had not stopped singing and like a magnet calling him he jolted down towards what the others all fled from.

Something called to his soul, and in his soul he could feel something else. A joyful explosion of happiness as he heard the notes that were missing in his song. Lance barely noticed Allura diving with him, the same expression on her face as on his as they found the glowing dark shapes that had alarmed everyone, rising up to meet them and circling around one another.

Keith's red glow was no surprise, but his brother being entirely fixated and matching Allura's notes was a bit unexpected. As Hunk and Shay had begun to circle one another, Allura and Takashi began to circle one another too, a calm and gentle dance together.

For a long moment Keith simply stared at Lance as they sang, their notes bouncing off each other, and Keith's notes seemed to bounce the sound, amplify the ones Lance made and could not hear, into a beautiful melody he had never imagined possible. _I'm not broken_ he thought then, taking one of Keith's hands as they began to twirl together in the water. Lance's audible notes had the same effect on many of Keith's, the tune they made together calm and mysterious, happy and energetic, everything Lance could have hoped for and more.

None of the four of them could hear or see anything other than their own completed songs and the faces of their other halves. Hunk and Shay were still singing too somewhere, as was Katie, Lance could barely hear it though. Their song was beautiful! His song with Keith was so beautiful it hurt! Oh but how blind they were to all the rest of the world now. It might not have been such a bad thing if they were somewhere safer than this. Somewhere away from a dozen guards who did not know what to make of two Deep Dwellers singing and matching songs with two Sun Dwellers.

The songs reached their natural ends after a while though, though still they spun together gently, focusing only on the other. Keith's head moved to Lance's shoulder as Lance's arms moved around Keith's waist, holding him close, his fins flaring out to billow around both of them, and fading into the surrounding water like a bluish mist.

“I-” Lance was cut off before he could really speak by none other than his sister, whom he only noticed now. Pointing a spear at Keith, who's glowing violet eyes widened in sudden alarm and realization.

“Back away from my brother slowly.” She commanded. Keith looked at Lance, then back at the spear, clinging a little bit tighter to Lance. Lance glared and rolled carefully, to put himself between Keith and his sister, though they were entirely surrounded. Above, below, and to all sides.

Lance glanced at Allura, who looked as afraid as he felt. Lance had just found his _mate_ , this should be a happy moment for the whole pod! Allura no doubt felt along those lines too. It was rare enough for one to find their song complete, but four members of the pod became complete on the same night! This was unheard of, and yet all they could do was point spears at Keith and Takashi.

“You too,” Another guard said to Takashi, who seemed as reluctant to let go of Allura as Lance was of Keith. Lance could hear a lot of murmuring from the rest of his pod too, and he was suddenly very afraid.

“Is that really a Deep Dweller?”   
  
“Two of them!”  
  
“You mean they're real?”  
  
“We should kill them right? They'll try to kill us and steal our songs!”  
  
“They've just tried to steal two songs!”

“They're real?”

“They aren't evil! Hey, listen, they aren't! I met Keith and Takashi, they're nice!” Lance could hear Katie and Hunk trying to argue in their defence, but no one seemed interested in listening to them either. The stories were too ingrained in them, about the evil Deep Dwellers who would steal their songs and eat their souls.

Loud and angry sounds came from the direction of they Abyss though, causing all heads to turn that way for a second and the pod began retreating instinctively behind the chosen guards, moving closer together to present a larger image, a confusing whirl of colours.

“Takashi!” Keith said, looking afraid and Takashi nodded once to his brother, the same look of worry on his face. The Deep Dweller pod was arriving now, and Lance could hear it on their voices. They were not too happy with what they were seeing.

Lance recognized Acxa at the front of their pod, though the Deep Dwellers numbered much smaller in number than the Coral Reef pod. Lance swallowed at the glare she gave as she paused, the Deep Dweller pod moving together near the Coral pod, both pods looking anxious and stressed. Lance could feel the tension in the water, so thick he half-wondered if anyone could actually swim through it.

“I am Acxa. Matriarch of these ones. We would not fight.” She said. Angry, but calm. She was reasonable, and Lance hoped their own leader would be.

“Not fight? They're the ones who came to steal our songs!” One guard snapped, though which guard Lance was not too certain.

“Silence,” Alfor said as he swam forward, a solid silver colour, followed by his mate Alana who had a pink base and splotches of purple, like Allura did, though the splotches on Allura were both pink and purple, her base being silver. Coran, his second in charge, swam with them, and Coran was a bit of a strange colour that reminded Lance of a sunset. Yellow in the scales that speckled his neck, shoulders and chest, but gradually growing more orange until at the tips of his fins they flared out into a deep red.

“I am Alfor. Patriarch of this pod. This is my mate, Alana, and my second, Coran. We would avoid a fight if we can as well.” He said calmly.

“Remove the sharps from Keith and Takashi,” Acxa demanded. Lance supposed they must not have spears in the Deep, but then it seemed they did not have a chance to make or use such things in the deep, cold, darkness of the abyss.

“Guards, lower your weapons.” Alfor said calmly. They seemed reluctant, but they obeyed, lowering their weapons, which let Lance relax a little bit. He felt Keith relaxing in his arms too. So long as they were able to come to some sort of peaceful agreement, this might not end badly.

“We want back our own.” Acxa said, pointing to Keith and Takashi, who shared a look now.

“Songs match,” Keith said in a small voice, “we will not leave our mates.” That was enough to start up more questions within Lance's pod, a flurry of them, so many speakers Lance could not make out anything, but some were beginning to relax it seemed and try to move closer.

“It would seem we may simply need to get to know one another then. Many of us were... unaware of a pod that could survive in the Deep,” Alfor said calmly.

“Or thought them dangerous if we believed. We have all these old stories that- er, not the time I gather, my apologies,” Coran said, stopping with a look from Alfor. Acxa opened her mouth to speak but a small one suddenly darted forth.

“Story!” She squeaked before her mother moved and pulled her back into the centre of the pod with a startled expression. It seemed to be what the Coral Dwellers needed though, many beginning to drift forward curiously, wanting to inspect more than anything else. Lance and Keith relaxed too, still holding on to one another, as the pods slowly began to speak to one another. Maybe this could work after all? The thought filled Lance with hope.

 


	10. Culmination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of things have changed for the Coral Dwellers, and for Lance and Keith too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the final chapter! What! Well, it's more of an epilogue... 
> 
> If you're feeling generous, please consider donating to my KoFi, becoming a patron (which brings perks such as reading chapters a few days ahead of release here) or comissioning me! All of this can be found on my tumblr page (url is seliphra)!

It took just two short weeks to work out all of the details, but it seemed that things were beginning to calm down too, once Alfor and Acxa were able to speak to each other for a while. All it took was getting to know one another and it was more than just them too. It turned out there were a lot of similarities between the Deep Dwellers and the Coral Dwellers, just as there were between the Coral and the Migratory ones.

The migratory group that was staying with them had stayed a few days longer than they were intending too, but today they were getting ready to leave, and much of the pod was there to see them off.

“Always so bright,” Keith complained, wincing at the sunlight. He had been staying up nearer to the surface since the full moon, which Lance loved, but it concerned him a little. All the bright light hurt his eyes and his head, and Shiro's too apparently. The other Deep Dwellers seemed reluctant to spend time in the bright sunlight, even if their scales shone with dark hues against the black when they were in sunlight.

“Hey guys! You made it!” Hunk said, rushing over to Lance and Keith, grinning. Lance grinned and hugged Hunk tightly in response.

“Well _duh._ I'm not gonna miss saying goodbye to my best friend dude!” Lance said. He tried to sound happier than he really was. A part of him really was happy for Hunk of course. Like Lance, Hunk had found his mate on the last full moon, but unlike Lance, Hunk was mixed. He was half migratory, and half coral, and he had all the things he needed to protect himself up in the frozen northern waters of their world. And so Hunk had decided to go with his mothers old pod, to travel and see what the oceans looked like beyond this little reef with his mate Shay by his side. 

“Haha! You say that Lance, but I know you like to sleep in,” Hunk teased, before hugging Keith. Keith looked startled and surprised by the action, apparently not entirely sure what to make of it. “You too man! You're mates with my best friend now! So you take care of Lance, okay? He's useless on his own.” 

“Oi!” Lance protested, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting at Hunk who laughed again. Lance could not hold his scowl and glare though, laughter bubbling out of him after a moment before he hugged Hunk again. 

“Aw, I'm gonna miss you too Lance,” Hunk said, though Keith seemed confused by this. 

“Why go if you will miss us all?” Keith asked. He was learning to speak a little bit louder than he used to, but even so, Keith's voice was always so much softer than anyone elses.

“Ah, well. My instincts, I guess,” Hunk said, looking thoughtful about it. Lance had never really considered that aspect of Hunk before all of this, but Hunk still had the urge to migate too it seemed and now he had a reason to do so as well. All the same, Lance would miss Hunk terribly, though part of him felt selfish for even thinking of that. 

“Well. You better visit us every time you're in the south,” Lance decided he was allowed to insist that much of his friend, if he could not just keep him here. Hunk smiled in response and nodded.

“Don't worry man, both my mom's insisted on it, and Katie made me promise it too, and so did Allura,” Hunk assured him. Lance huffed softly though, his fins flaring out a little bit which caught Keith's attention in an instant. Keith got distracted by Lance's fins easily though, and Lance admittedly liked that, since it meant Keith liked his boring blues the best out of all of the fins in the pod. 

“Well. You better then. Or we'll all have to hate you for a million years!” Lance said stubbornly. It was a long goodbye, a long back and forth between the both of them, and Keith wound up settling on the ocean bed and hiding his eyes at some point to let them talk while blocking out the sun. Eventually though the pod really did start to move, and Hunk went with them, swimming beside his new mate Shay. 

Lance waited there, at the edges of the coral reef with both of Hunk's mothers and Keith, watching until they were too far away to see any longer, and even then, Hunk's mothers stayed there after Lance finally left with Keith, to let Keith rest his eyes and sleep in the coral. 

A lot was changing so fast lately, Lance supposed, when they returned to the coral. He had a mate now, after all. Certainly they would not be about to get physical beyond resting beside another, and more intimate forehead touches and entwining their fingers -usually alone so they were not teased for being too inappropriate- but all the same. Lance had found his match with Keith, the Deep Dwellers were interacting more now with his pod as a result. 

And they had so much in common! It was something that had surprised all of them, even the Deep Dweller's pod, to learn they had the same Gods, the same creation myths. It seemed the Deep Dwellers really were merfolk, just as any other sub-type was. They all came from the same source, though at some point it seemed others had ventured into the deep, coming up only for certain occassions, like chasing easy prey, birth, and the full moon. 

Lance smile softly as he watched Keith fall asleep in the coral. They had not really decided yet who would change their sleeping patterns around, though Lance supposed it really should be him. His tail fin moved just a little to cover Keith's, his translucent blue fins veiling Keith's blacks and making dark purples where the red showed through, in the centers of each of his scales. Lances eyes were transfixed though to Keith's face, watching his gills flutter gently as they worked, his chest rising and falling and his eyelids moving as his eyes began to move under them, entering a dream. 

Keith was so beautiful it took Lance's breath away, and the more time they spent together now, the more Lance fell in love with him. Yes, even though things were changing, it was all for the better. He would not see as much of his best friend now, but he had his own life to look forward to, one where he had completed his song and himself with Keith. One where the future held more hope than he could have ever imagined before all of this. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they all lived happily ever after... 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this fic at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it, please consider leaving a comment! I always read them, and even if it's been ages since I finished the story, I still love seeing how people felt about the whole thing!


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